<:z.f^ 


f 


THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 
PEOPLE'S   PLAY 


Digitized  by  tlie  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2007  witli  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/cliurclipeoplesplaOOatkiiala 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE 
PEOPLE'S  PLAY 


BY 

HENRY  A.  ATKINSON 

Social  Service  Secretary  for  the  Congregational 
Churches  of  the  United  States 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

WASHINGTON    GLADDEN 


THE  PILGRIM  PRESS 
BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


COPTBIQHT  1915 

Bt  henry  a.  ATKINSON 


THE  Pn-OBM  PBIiSS 
BOSTON 


DEDICATION 

TO  THAT  LARGE  AND  GROWING  GROUP  OF    MEN 

AND  WOMEN  BOTH  WITHIN  AND  WITHOUT 

THE   CHURCH  WHO    GIVE    FIRST 

PLACE  TO  THE   NEEDS 

OF  HUMANITY 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  written  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  the  importance  of  play  in  the  life 
of  individuals  and  the  community  and  the 
relation  of  the  church  to  the  question,  espe- 
cially in  its  democratic  aspects.  I  feel  that 
much  of  what  I  have  said  is  familiar  to  those 
interested  in  the  play  and  recreation  move- 
ments. My  interest  in  the  philosophy  of 
play  and  the  various  theories  advanced  is 
incidental  to  my  main  purpose.  It  has  not 
been  my  intention  to  break  new  ground  so 
much  as  to  bring  facts  to  the  attention  of  the 
churches  and  church  people  and  point  out 
tendencies  that  are  well  known;  and  by 
presenting  a  constructive  program,  if  possi- 
ble, help  the  churches  to  meet  the  new  and 
pressing  problems. 

I  have  used  quotations  freely  and  have 
tried  to  give  credit  to  writers  and  investi- 
gators.   As  most  of  the  material  on  this  sub- 

[vii] 


THE  CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

ject  is  printed  in  pamphlets  and  periodical 
literature,  I  have  not  attempted  by  the  use 
of  foot-notes  to  record  pages  on  which  quo- 
tations may  be  found.  Acknowledgment  is 
made  to  all  those  whose  material  I  have  used 
and  especially  to  those  to  whom  I  am  con- 
scious of  an  indebtedness  for  reports,  facts 
and  statements,  and  of  whose  exact  source 
I  am  not  certain. 

A  full  bibliography  is  given  in  the  back 
of  the  book  in  which  are  listed  all  the  books, 
articles  and  reports  to  which  reference  has 
been  made.  I  also  acknowledge  my  indebt- 
edness to  my  wife,  Grace  O.  Atkinson,  for 
her  efficient  and  untiring  labor  in  research, 
in  collecting,  reading  and  making  notes  on 
the  literature  dealing  with  this  subject,  as 
well  as  her  constructive  criticism. 

The  churches  have  never  faced  their  task 
with  a  more  hopeful  spirit  and  the  promises 
for  the  future  were  never  better  than  they 
are  today.  If  this  book  helps  in  any  small 
way  I  shall  be  glad. 

Henry  A.  Atkinson. 

[viii] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 


Preface       

Introduction      .... 
I.     The  Case  Stated 

II.     Attitude  of  the   Church  Past  and 

Present  ..... 

III.     Play  and  Normal  Life 

IV.     Dangers  and  Disasters 

V.     Dancing,    Card    Playing,    Theater 

Going       ..... 

VI.     Reconstructing  the    Play   Life    of 

the  People     .... 

VII.     A  Program  for  the  Church 

VIII.     Results  Attained  and  Attainable 

IX.     The  Church  a  Social  Center   . 

Bibliography       .... 


VH 

xi 


15 
39 

77 

111 

143 
179 
207 
237 
258 


[ix] 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Pageant  at  Thetford,  Vt.        .  .  Frontispiece 

OPPOSITE   PAGE 

6 

20 

33 

41 

63 

71 

86 

96 

115 

116 

143 

162 

168 

197 

212 

231 


Playing  at  War   ..... 
Play  According  to  Opportunities  Offered 
The  Democracy  of  Play 
Play  Arouses  New  Interests 
A  Country  Home  and  a  Country  Road    . 
School  Athletics  Play 
A  Base-Ball  Crowd 
Volley   Ball 
The  Weaving  Dance 
The  Fisherman  and  His  Wife 
Russell  Sage  Foundation  Building 
Chicago's  First  Municipal  Dance  Hall     . 
Lincoln  Park  Regatta — Chicago 
Prairie  Walking  Club  on  a  Hike,  Chicago 
Carding  Contest  .... 

Church  and  Social  Center  in  Wibaux,  Minn. 
Gymnasium    in    Community    House,    Winnetka 
111.       . 


260 


INTRODUCTION 

Mr.  Atkinson  grapples,  in  this  discus- 
sion, with  a  question  which  has  been  beaten 
to  a  frazzle  by  the  controversialists  of  many 
generations.  There  are  few  subjects  on 
which  so  many  foolish  things  have  been 
written  and  spoken;  on  which  counsel  has 
been  more  effectually  darkened  by  words 
without  knowledge. 

Yet  the  interest  of  play  is  one  upon  which 
there  is  great  need  of  wisdom.  It  is  a  vital 
interest;  every  year  it  is  becoming  more  so. 
One  of  the  most  thoughtful  books  of  recent 
months  makes  this  suggestion,  to  which 
serious  minds  may  well  give  heed:  "The 
way  in  which  people  spend  their  lives  after 
the  day's  journey  is  over — the  way  in  which 
they  play — offers  them  the  best  chance  of 
contributing  to  the  enhancement  of  one  an- 
other's lives.  If  the  time  ever  comes  when 
poverty  is  comparatively  negligible  and 
when  human  impoverishment  can  no  longer 

[xl] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

be  charged  up  to  gross  economic  maladjust- 
ment, if  such  a  time  ever  comes,  as  it  well 
may,  the  rule  of  live-and-help-live  will  as- 
sume a  better  meaning  than  it  has  at  present 
and  will  challenge  the  development  of  a 
better  quality  of  human  nature.  Only  then, 
when  the  end  of  the  day's  journey  leaves  the 
travellers  lively,  will  the  brethren  and  the 
sisters  be  so  situated  that  they  can  make 
life  very  interesting  and  remunerative  for 
one  another."* 

That  the  day  is  coming  when  there  will 
be  larger  leisure  for  all  is  one  thing  to  hope 
for,  and  no  need  will  be  more  imperative 
than  the  power  to  use  that  leisure  wisely. 
How  to  make  play  recreative,  wholesome, 
productive,  is  a  great  part  of  wisdom.  The 
church  which  has  not  learned  how  to  use 
this  great  resource  is  poorly  equipped  for 
the  service  of  the  present  age. 

Mr.  Atkinson  offers  no  novelties  of  social 
philosophy  and  prescribes  no  panaceas,  but 
he  has  been  hving  in  this  generation  and 

*  "Progressive  Democracy,"  by  Herbert  Croly — p.  429. 
[xii] 


INTRODUCTION 

he  knows  the  conditions,  and  his  rational 
and  practicable  counsels  are  likely  to  have 
weight  with  intelligent  readers. 

Washington  Gladden. 

Columbus,  Ohio. 
Aug.  5,  1915. 


[xiU] 


I 

THE   CASE    STATED 


CHAPTER   I 
THE    CASE    STATED 

Everybody,  of  course,  knows  that  it  is 
natural  for  children  to  play  and  that  play 
has  a  marked  influence  upon  the  physical 
growth  and  moral  character  of  individuals; 
but  only  the  few  realize  that  play  is  essential 
to  every  normal  hfe  and  at  every  period  of 
life. 

Play  is  defined  as  "any  exercise  or  series 
of  actions  intended  for  amusement,  diver- 
sion, or  relaxation  from  work."  Exercise 
may  be  physical,  mental,  or  a  combination 
of  both.  Play  is  a  general  term.  Diversion 
suggests  "that  which  pleasantly  distracts  the 
mind  from  cares  or  business."  Amusement 
means  any  "form  of  pleasurable  excitement 
or  interest."  Recreation  is  "diversion  for 
the  sake  of  refreshment  or  relaxation."  It 
really  recreates  body  and  mind.  A  game 
is  play  imder  the  form  of  a  contest,  "usually 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

in  accord  with  fixed  rules."  The  terra  sport 
apphes  especially  to  out-door  games.  In 
the  use  of  the  word  "play"  all  of  these  dif- 
ferent meanings  are  to  be  kept  in  mind. 

Play  is  an  end  in  itself.  It  is  doing  a 
thing  for  the  sake  of  the  doing.  Work  has 
reference  to  the  result  to  be  attained ;  hence 
work  is  doing  a  thing  for  a  reward.  The 
same  process  may  be  employed  in  both  work 
and  play.  For  instance  when  one  plays 
for  the  sake  of  the  game  it  is  play,  but 
when  the  interest  centers  in  the  stake  or 
the  prize  the  same  action  ceases  to  be  play 
and  becomes  work.  Men  who  are  making 
strenuous  mental  effort,  such  as  that  re- 
quired of  the  railway  mail  clerk  in  mem- 
orizing thousands  of  names  of  post-offices 
and  railway-lines,  the  times  of  trains  and 
their  connections,  find  the  best  way  to  gain 
the  result  is  through  some  form  of  play. 
The  mail-clerk  finds  it  helpful  to  write  the 
names  of  stations,  the  trains  and  the  con- 
nections on  cards  and  thus  invents  a  game. 
In  this  way  his  work  becomes  a  game  to  be 
[*1 


THE    CASE    STATED 

played,  and  the  play  is  work.  One  man  who 
has  been  remarkably  successful  in  this  work 
says  that  he  best  rests  himself  from  his  ardu- 
ous task  by  playing  solitaire,  and  often  uses 
two  packs  of  cards,  working  out  different 
forms  of  the  game.  This  is  play,  although 
it  is  practically  the  same  activity  as  that 
demanded  by  his  work. 

The  play  of  the  people  is  determined  by 
the  dispositions  and  demands  of  individuals 
and  the  opportunities  offered  for  meeting 
these  demands.  Two  girls  and  a  little  boy 
were  busy  one  afternoon  sailing  shingle  boats 
in  a  flooded  gutter  in  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
At  one  point  they  had  gathered  together  a 
pile  of  stones  and  pieces  of  sticks.  These 
were  loaded  upon  their  boats  which  were  set 
adrift.  Stopping  at  intervals  down  the  gut- 
ter a  portion  of  their  cargo  was  discharged. 
When  they  reached  the  end  of  the  run  the 
boats  were  unloaded  and  carried  back  up 
stream  where  the  process  was  repeated.  This 
part  of  Baltimore  is  near  the  docks,  in  the 
city's  most  congested  district.    Within  five 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

blocks  of  their  homes  boats  were  being 
loaded  and  unloaded  every  day.  In  all 
probabihty  their  parents  were  connected  in 
some  way  with  the  shipping  industry.  At 
any  rate  they  were  thoroughly  familiar  with 
boats  and  water  transportation.  In  Chey- 
enne a  similar  group  of  children  would  be 
throwing  a  rope,  building  corrals,  or  imi- 
tating some  of  the  other  operations  sug- 
gested by  frontier  civilization.  Last  summer 
the  children  at  the  sea  side  resorts  were 
building  forts  on  the  beaches  and  arming 
them  with  wooden  cannons.  It  is  a  common 
complaint  against  the  boys  who  play  in  the 
streets  of  our  larger  cities  that  they  make 
themselves  a  nuisance  to  the  police  and  the 
neighbors  by  climbing  poles,  window  fronts, 
or  any  thing  else  that  is  climbable,  and  by 
swinging  on  the  awnings.  Those  who  have 
philosophized  over  this  tendency  of  boys  to 
climb  and  hang  by  their  arms  say  that  it 
is  a  reversion  to  type  and  proves  that  man 
once  lived  in  trees  and  was  accustomed 
to  swing  himself  from  branch  to  branch. 

[6] 


§   < 


THE    CASE    STATED 

Whatever  is  to  be  said  for  this  theory, 
one  thing  is  surely  true:  the  only  rea- 
son the  city  boy  does  not  climb  a  tree  is 
because  there  is  no  tree  at  hand.  He  does 
the  next  best  thing  and  uses  the  only  oppor- 
tunities for  play  that  fortune  has  thrown 
in  his  pathway.  Men  gather  in  saloons, 
in  clubs,  play  golf,  hunt,  fish,  attend  ball 
games,  theaters  and  dances  because  of  the 
desire  for  play  and  for  social  intercourse, 
desires  that  are  universal.  This  instinct  for 
play  is  not  easily  destroyed  and  while  it 
develops  more  readily  under  cheerful  and 
happy  conditions,  it  is  not  killed  even  by 
the  dull  grind  of  poverty  and  hardship. 

The  deadly  monotony  of  the  conmion  life 
of  today  with  its  incessant  toil,  its  planning 
for  the  future,  its  carrying  of  heavy  burdens, 
makes  a  demand  upon  us  to  study  the  ques- 
tion of  play  and  its  relationship  to  life. 
Even  if  the  work  that  we  do  be  agreeable 
there  is  need  for  occasional  change.  It  is 
a  psychological  as  well  as  a  physiological 
fact  that  some  form  of  amusement  is  neces- 

[7] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

sary  to  enable  men  and  women  to  maintain 
a  healthy  equilibrium  of  mind  and  body. 
The  desire  for  play  and  the  need  of  play 
continues  with  us;  but  under  the  changed 
conditions  and  the  artificial  circumstances 
in  which  most  people  live  today  the  question 
is  forced  upon  us,  how  are  we  to  play?  Jane 
Addams  illustrates  the  great  change  that  is 
brought  about  by  our  modem  city  and  its 
demands,  by  utilizing  the  old  illustration  of 
the  kitten  and  says:  "Suppose  that  after  the 
kitten  has  practised  and  become  a  proficient 
mouse-catcher  it  suddenly  finds  itself  a 
grown-up  cat  in  a  city,  where  there  are  no 
mice  to  catch  and  where  it  has  to  live  on 
canned  mouse  meat.  To  such  a  cat,  living 
in  a  mouseless  factory  or  office,  nothing 
could  give  so  much  pleasure  as  the  occasional 
use  of  its  muscles  along  the  traditional  lines 
of  mouse  catching,  or  in  a  game  where  skill 
stimulated  mouse  catching  and  which  there- 
fore made  the  same  demand  upon  his  alert- 
ness of  eye  and  readiness  of  spring  which 
mouse  catching  had  made  upon  his  long  line 

[81 


THE   CASE   STATED 

of  ancestors.  Such  a  game  would  give  to 
the  city  cat  a  sense  of  rest,  of  recreation,  of 
restored  well  being,  of  mental  stimulation 
which  nothing  else  in  the  world  could  pos- 
sibly afford  him."  The  actual  fact  is  that 
most  people  live  under  conditions  that  are 
just  about  as  strange  and  to  which  they  are 
as  little  accustomed  as  this  cat  would  be  if 
made  to  live  in  a  mouseless  city. 

The  play  spirit  has  often  been  the  cause 
of  disaster.  But  trouble  arises  and  play 
becomes  a  danger  only  when  it  is  denied  a 
legitimate  form  of  expression.  Childhood 
is  repressed  and  men  and  women  turned  into 
machines  by  our  modern  industrial  system. 
Success  and  failure  are  measured  by  pro- 
duction. Life  is  all  drab  and  its  music  turns 
to  humdrum.  After  the  hours  of  exertion 
real  recreation  is  denied.  The  people  de- 
manding some  form  of  play  are  exploited 
by  those  whose  only  interest  is  dollars  and 
cents,  and  who  see  an  opportunity  for  coin- 
ing money  at  the  expense  of  their  fellows. 
The  commercial  results  of  play  are  their 

[9] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

only  consideration,  and  the  dance  hall,  the 
saloon,  the  cheap  theater  are  offered  as  the 
only  means  by  which  the  people  can  express 
themselves. 

The  church  that  is  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  people  must  appeal  to  the  whole  round 
of  human  interests;  must  care  for  all  that 
has  to  do  with  life.  It  must  take  into  ac- 
count this  very  necessary  element — the  de- 
mand for  play  and  the  craving  for  amuse- 
ment. On  the  other  hand  it  is  difficult  for 
the  modern  man  to  appreciate  the  necessity 
of  taking  care  of  his  physical  condition  and 
at  the  same  time  give  to  recreation  only  its 
proper  place  in  the  program  of  life. 

The  attitude  of  the  church  toward  the 
problem  of  the  people's  play  forms  a  serious 
hindrance  to  the  work  of  the  church.  In 
every  community  those  who  are  seeking 
pleasure  are  apt  to  feel  that  the  church  is 
largely  out  of  sympathy  with  them.  It  is 
estimated  that  in  this  country  about  seven 
million  people  attend  the  moving  picture 
shows  every  day.     The  dance  halls  in  our 

[10] 


THE    CASE    STATED 

cities  are  crowded ;  the  pool-rooms  are  filled 
with  boys  and  young  men.  The  saloons  are 
uniformly  successful,  not  because  people 
naturally  desire  to  drink,  but  because  they 
crave  friendship,  amusement,  pleasure — and 
these  the  saloon  provides.  The  saloon  is 
especially  dangerous  and  is  the  most  unso- 
cial of  institutions  because  of  its  opportuni- 
ties for  sociability. 

The  church  for  a  long  time  contented 
itself  with  protesting  against  the  popular 
forms  of  amusement.  It  pointed  out  the 
evils  but  failed  to  show  the  people  the  better 
way.  Very  often  it  opposed  those  who  at- 
tempted to  meet  the  demand  for  recreation. 
This  attitude  is  changing.  With  a  new  ap- 
preciation of  the  place  play  has  in  human 
life  we  are  coming  to  recognize  more  and 
more  that  the  church  must  help  to  provide 
forms  of  recreation  and  opportunities  for 
play  that  will  be  safe  and  sufficient  for  the 
needs  of  all.  Only  thus  can  the  church  ful- 
fill its  function  of  inspiring,  educating  and 
helping. 

[iij 


II 

ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH 
PAST  AND  PRESENT 


CHAPTER   II 

ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH 
PAST  AND  PRESENT 

The  church  is  the  most  important  factor 
in  developing  the  character  of  individuals 
and  up-building  the  moral  forces  of  the  com- 
munity. Those  who  are  interested  in  rural 
reconstruction  have  come  to  recognize  that 
the  church  must  be  enlisted  in  the  task  if 
there  is  to  be  any  great  success  in  working 
out  the  plans  that  are  being  formed.  There 
would  always  be  religion  in  the  world  if 
there  were  no  church,  but  without  strong 
churches  religion  would  be  so  vague  in  its 
character  as  to  be  of  Uttle  practical  value  in 
bettering  human  conditions.  A  common 
worship  tends  to  keep  alive  the  religious 
impulse  in  the  hearts  of  men.  Charles  E. 
Jefferson  says:  "Yoxmg  ministers  some- 
times look  upon  the  church  as  a  necessary 
evil,  an  inherited  incumbrance,  a  sort  of 

[15] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

device  by  which  preachers  are  handicapped 
in  their  movements  and  held  back  from  the 
largest  usefulness.  Men  of  this  type  are 
eager  to  get  at  what  they  call  the  world. 
Their  desire  is  to  reconstruct  the  social  or- 
der. They  want  to  do  things  on  a  broad 
scale.  It  is  a  blunder  to  ignore  the  church 
in  an  effort  to  reach  the  masses.  It  is  a  more 
serious  blunder  to  slight  the  church  in  one's 
direct  dealings  with  it." 

Granting  the  significance  of  the  church 
and  the  importance  of  its  position  in  the 
community  life,  it  is  of  the  greatest  interest 
to  know  its  attitude  in  this  matter  of  the 
people's  play.  The  community  is  the  field 
of  the  church's  endeavor,  and  only  as  the 
community  is  made  the  Kingdom  of  God 
wherein  transformed  lives  are  to  be  devel- 
oped, can  the  church  be  said  to  succeed. 
"Character,"  says  Graham  Taylor,  "is  relig- 
ion's greatest  achievement  and  the  instru- 
mentality of  all  of  its  accomplishments." 
Character  is  helped  or  hindered  in  its  devel- 
opment by  the  economic  conditions  surround- 


ATTITUDE    OF    THE    CHURCH 

ing  the  common  life  of  today.  "The  quest 
of  the  best,"  writes  William  De  Witt  Hyde, 
"is  the  ethical  equivalent  of  the  gospel  doc- 
trine of  regeneration  by  the  spirit."  Most 
of  us  will  agree  with  Washington  Gladden 
when  he  says:  "The  historical  relation  of 
Christianity  to  popular  amusements  is  one 
of  antagonism."  We  must  think  clearly  on 
this  subject.  The  church  was  not  con- 
sciously cruel  in  depriving  people  of  the 
things  they  enjoyed,  nor  did  it  fail  to  appre- 
ciate the  need  of  rest  and  relaxation.  Its 
doctrine  was  this:  Granted  a  person  needs 
rest  and  relaxation,  let  him  take  it  as  a  sick 
man  takes  a  pill,  or  a  dose  of  bitter  medicine. 
The  wry  face  and  the  nasty  taste  will  help 
the  cure.  Recreation  as  a  means  of  restor- 
ing life  to  its  normal  state  of  being  was 
allowable  and  recognized  as  being  good,  but 
the  kind  of  recreation  was  very  strictly  de- 
fined. It  might  be  sleep,  a  change  of  labor 
or  a  slackening  of  the  pace.  It  was  to  be 
simply  for  the  restoring  of  the  waste  caused 
by  toil.  If  recreation  had  in  it  any  element 
1 17  J 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

of  pleasure  or  amusement,  just  in  that  pro- 
portion it  became  sinful.  The  distinction  is 
thus  made  very  clear  between  recreation  and 
amusement.  Amusement  was  looked  upon 
as  simply  a  pursuit  of  pleasure  for  pleas- 
ure's sake,  or  "a  plunging  into  pleasurable 
courses  for  the  sake  of  personal  enjoyment." 
Everything  that  ministered  to  the  "joy  of 
Hving"  was  looked  upon  as  sinful.  Not 
only  were  amusements  thus  looked  upon  as 
sinful,  but  their  tendencies  were  believed  to 
be  evil  and  only  evil.  It  was  believed  that 
if  we  can  take  our  recreations  soberly  and 
without  getting  any  pleasure  out  of  them, 
they  are  good;  but  amusements  prompted 
by  any  other  motive  bear  ill  fruit.  "The 
effect  of  amusements  upon  the  spiritual  in- 
terests of  those  who  engage  in  them  is  to 
be  taken  into  accoimt.  They  withdraw  the 
thought  from  God  and  from  things  divine, 
dissipating  serious  impressions,  unfitting  the 
soul  for  devotional  exercises,  and  grieving 
away  the  Holy  Spirit." 

In  this  wholesale  condemnation  of  amuse- 

[18] 


ATTITUDE   OF   THE   CHURCH 

merits,  no  discrimination  was  made  between 
what  is  good  and  what  is  bad.  The  prize 
fight  and  the  parlor  dance  were  put  in  the 
same  category.  Reading  a  novel,  attend- 
ing the  theater  or  the  bull  fight  and  playing 
cards  were  classed  as  sins  and  compared  to 
the  gladiatorial  contests  and  drimken  orgies 
of  Nero's  Rome.  In  this  attitude  of  the 
church  it  was  not  only  the  thing  done  that 
was  condemned,  but  the  joy  of  the  doing. 
A  writer  who  strongly  insists  upon  the  es- 
sential evil  of  all  the  play  and  amusement 
out  of  which  people  get  pleasure  on  the 
ground  that  it  conduces  to  selfishness  fails 
to  see  the  superlative  selfishness  of  this  con- 
cluding statement  of  his  impassioned  article : 
"We  came  into  the  world  not  for  sport.  We 
were  sent  here  on  a  higher  and  nobler 
charge.  Let  us  not  then  forget  this  charge. 
Let  us  live  and  act  in  accordance  with  it, 
so  that  when  summoned  to  meet  our  final 
judge  we  may  hope  to  hear  Him  say  *Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant:  thou  hast 
been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

thee  ruler  over  many  things;  enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord.'  "  I  think  it  is 
fair  to  say  that  this  represents  the  historical 
attitude  of  the  church  in  general  regarding 
the  people's  play.  A  popular  evangelist 
said  recently:  "If  you  sow  the  card  party 
you  will  reap  the  blackleg  gambler.  Eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  gamblers  that  have  been 
wrecked  and  ruined  acquired  the  habit  in 
so-called  Christian  homes.  If  you  sow  the 
dance,  you  reap  prostitutes.  The  dance  is 
the  hot-bed  of  iniquity,  and  I  denounce  it 
as  one  of  the  rottenest,  most  hellish  vice- 
producing  institutions  that  ever  wriggled 
from  the  depths  of  perdition.  It  is  not  an 
innocent  amusement;  it  is  the  very  worst 
amusement.  It  has  caused  the  downfall  of 
more  girls  than  anything  else."  In  a  revival 
held  in  a  large  city  about  one-fourth  of  the 
total  population  was  reported  as  being  con- 
verted. This  meant  that  some  eleven  or 
twelve  thousand  people  had  quit  going  to 
the  theaters,  had  burned  their  cards  and  had 
given  up  dancing.    At  the  ensuing  election 

[20] 


rwj^"V^,-:J^.-;«.V,| 

V 

1 

4t 

1 

i 

''^"' 

* 

i«l 

1 

4^ 

9 

^ 

'9hl 

^ 

^PKk-  ^i 

r' 

^1 

r- "    - 

'1 

1: 

Courtesy  of  Youth's  Companton 

PLAY  ACCORDING  TO  OPPORTUNITIES  OFFERED 

1.  Seesaw  (Ardonia  School) 

2.  Teeter  (South  Keene) 

3.  TheSandpile 


ATTITUDE    OF    THE    CHURCH 

the  worst  crowd  that  ever  held  office  in  the 
city's  history  was  elected.  Before  the  win- 
ter was  over  the  theaters  began  to  draw  the 
crowds  again,  new  cards  were  bought  and 
the  same  round  of  dances  and  parties  were 
attended  by  the  same  people.  There  can  be 
no  question  of  the  fact  that  the  revival  did 
stir  impulses  and  do  good  of  a  kind  in  the 
community;  but  this  question  is  a  fair  one, 
and  we  may  raise  it  with  propriety:  Was 
the  standard  of  conversion  which  took  away 
from  the  mass  of  the  people  their  means  of 
amusement  a  proper  standard?  Sober  sec- 
ond thought  seemed  to  lead  the  people  of 
the  community  to  beHeve  that  they  had 
made  a  mistake  in  giving  up  these  things. 
It  would  seem  that  nothing  essential  was 
lost,  and  that  they  could  be  good  Christians 
and  at  the  same  time  take  part  in  the  pleas- 
ures that  they  enjoyed,  providing,  of  course, 
that  they  did  not  allow  these  things  to  crowd 
out  the  more  serious  affairs  of  life. 

There  was  a  good  reason  for  the  church's 
historic  attitude  on  the  question  of  amuse- 

[21] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

ments.  Washington  Gladden  is  undoubt- 
edly correct  in  saying  that  it  was  survival 
of  that  wholesome  horror  and  righteous 
enmity  with  which  the  first  Christians  re- 
sisted the  amusements  in  vogue  throughout 
the  Roman  Empire.  The  frightful  debauch- 
eries and  cruelties  which  constituted  the 
sports  of  the  Romans  merited  the  holy  indig- 
nation with  which  the  disciples  denounced 
them.  The  conflict  of  Christianity  with 
heathenism  began  in  the  arena  of  the  peo- 
ple's play.  One  of  the  broad  lines  of  dis- 
tinction which  the  Christians  drew  between 
themselves  and  their  pagan  neighbors  was 
their  refusal  to  attend  the  Roman  games. 
The  theater  was  utterly  bad,  for  the  most 
popular  actor  was  he  who  could  behave  most 
obscenely.  The  circus  had  a  seating  capac- 
ity for  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  peo- 
ple. Here  the  chariot  races  drew  immense 
throngs,  and  the  race  was  considered  most 
successful  when  horses  and  men  were  killed 
in  the  contest.  The  gladiatorial  scenes 
where  men,  sometimes  hundreds  of  them, 

[22] 


ATTITUDE    OF    THE    CHURCH 

fought  with  wild  beasts  and  with  one  an- 
other, while  their  blood  dyed  the  sand  of 
the  arena  and  the  people  cheered  and 
"turned  their  thumbs  up  or  down,"  indicat- 
ing whether  the  human  being  should  live  or 
die;  the  social  life  of  the  time,  the  scenes 
in  the  magnificent  baths,  the  drunkenness 
and  lust,  the  greed,  the  inexcusable  cruelty; 
if  Christianity  had  not  protested  against  all 
these  things,  it  would  have  missed  its  high 
and  holy  calhng.  It  was  only  that  austere 
group  of  men  who  were  willing  to  forego  all 
earthly  pleasure,  to  suffer,  to  fast,  to  pray 
and  work  for  the  coming  of  God's  Kingdom 
and  for  the  honor  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  could 
have  saved  the  society  of  that  time.  Against 
the  mad  debauchery,  the  indolence  and  the 
savage,  fun-loving  spirit  of  the  people  about 
them,  this  company  of  holy  men  and  women 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  lifted  up 
an  ideal  of  industry  and  sobriety.  What  a 
great  battle  had  to  be  fought,  and  how 
bravely  the  fight  went  onl  If  any  one  feels 
inclined  to  criticize  the  church  for  its  atti- 

[28] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

tude,  just  let  him  read  the  story  of  "The 
Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire;" 
then  let  him  tmn  the  pages  of  chm'ch  his- 
tory and  see  how  this  earnest  band  which 
was  willing  to  forego  all  earthly  pleasures 
saved  civihzation  and  gave  to  the  world  its 
best  gifts.  In  this  fight  there  was  no  chance 
for  compromise.  All  amusements  and  play 
of  the  people  were  so  bad  that  discrimina- 
tion and  the  power  of  choice  were  out  of  the 
question.  The  unfortunate  thing  is  that  the 
spirit  which  grew  out  of  this  struggle  has 
dominated  so  much  of  the  church  life  from 
that  day  to  this.  Conditions  have  changed, 
but  we  have  been  making  the  same  com- 
plaint. The  Puritans  in  England  were  as 
bitter  aginst  popular  amusements  as  were 
the  early  Christians.  They  had  undoubt- 
edly good  reason  for  some  protest,  but  their 
judgments  against  men  and  their  distorted 
ideas  of  human  nature  were  carried  so  far 
that  they  denounced  every  form  of  play. 
The  children  were  brought  up  to  believe  that 
anything  that  is  pleasant  is  of  Satan,  and 

[24] 


ATTITUDE    OF    THE    CHURCH 

every  amusement,  no  matter  how  harmless 
it  may  be  in  and  of  itself,  is  sinful.  Having 
the  power  of  the  State  back  of  them  they 
were  able  to  enforce  the  decisions  of  their 
consciences  upon  others. 

The  church  has  said  more  against  amuse- 
ments than  against  almost  any  other  activ- 
ity and  has  made  great  efforts  to  get  people 
to  give  up  their  forms  of  play.  The  more 
nearly  one  was  able  to  obliterate  the  sense 
of  enjoyment  from  his  hfe,  and  the  more 
asceticism  one  brought  into  his  existence,  the 
more  nearly  like  a  saint  he  was  thought  to 
be,  for  the  only  joy  of  a  saint  is  "to  think 
upon  holy  things."  This  scorn  of  the  world 
has  imfortunately  made  good  people  remiss 
in  their  efforts  to  better  human  conditions. 
If  the  world  is  a  bad  place,  and  the  Chris- 
tian's duty  is  to  pass  through  it  as  rapidly 
and  by  as  little  contact  with  it  as  possible, 
why  should  he  try  to  make  it  any  better? 
The  only  wise  thing  to  do  with  a  worthless 
garment  is  to  throw  it  away.  It  is  folly  to 
attempt  to  patch  it.    Thomas  a  Kempis  ad- 

[25] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

vises:  Keep  thyself  as  a  stranger  and  a 
pilgrim  upon  the  earth  who  hath  nothing  to 
do  with  the  affairs  of  this  world." 

How  much  time  we  have  spent  in  discuss- 
ing whether  baseball,  or  billiards,  or  danc- 
ing, or  theater  going  or  card  playing  are  in 
and  of  themselves  sinful!  The  question  is 
not  to  be  settled  by  arguing  for  or  against 
these  specific  things.  The  question  is,  what 
ought  to  be  the  attitude  of  the  church  in 
regard  to  this  important  question  of  the 
people's  play?  The  ill  results  of  misdirected 
or  undirected  play  are  apparent.  Our  daily 
observations  lead  us  to  the  conviction  that 
something  is  wrong.  We  contend  that  it  is 
not  the  pleasures  themselves,  but  the  way  in 
which  they  are  used  and  the  conditions  under 
which  people  must  use  them.  Whether  or 
not  dancing  in  and  of  itself  is  an  evil  must 
be  debated  solely  on  its  own  ground,  and 
not  from  the  standpoint  of  what  is  often 
involved  therein.  A  dance  in  a  public  hall 
where  liquor  is  served  is  another  considera- 
tion, and  because  dancing  under  such  condi- 

126] 


ATTITUDE    OF   THE    CHURCH 

tions  results  in  disaster,  it  is  hardly  fair  to 
condemn  entirely  this  popular  form  of  the 
people's  play.  The  very  fact  that  we  have 
certain  appetites  and  desires  is  an  argument 
for  their  development  and  satisfaction. 
These  appetites  may  lead  us  astray.  This 
danger  has  been  recognized,  and  two  meth- 
ods of  safeguarding  against  such  ruin  are 
tried;  one  is  to  destroy  tendencies  by  sup- 
pressing them;  the  other  is  to  control  them 
by  discipline  and  careful  discrimination. 
Hugh  Black  calls  these  two  methods  self- 
repression  and  self-expression.  The  former 
is  the  ascetic  ideal.  All  that  does  not  tend 
to  this  ideal  we  have  too  often  classified  as 
sin.  But  instead  of  the  hard  alternative  of 
being  forced  to  choose  one  or  the  other,  of 
giving  full  sway  to  our  desire  for  pleasure 
or  amusement,  or  of  repressing  these  natural 
desires,  may  we  not  take  a  middle  course 
and  determine  what  things  are  good,  what 
things  are  beautiful,  what  things  will  amuse 
or  instruct,  and  then  use  as  much  or  as  little 
of  them  as  seems  good  for  one's  welfare? 

[27J 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

This  would  seem  to  be  the  highest  form  of 
self-control;  to  be  able  to  discriminate  be- 
tween the  things  of  life  and  to  choose  the 
best. 

The  weakness  in  the  prevailing  attitude 
of  the  church  is  that  it  fails  to  recognize  the 
insistence  of  the  social  demands.  Its  ethics 
have  been  interpreted  too  entirely  from  a 
personal  standpoint.  "If  eating  meat" — 
said  St.  Paul — "makes  my  brother  to  offend, 
I  will  eat  no  meat  while  the  world  stands." 
This  position  was  heroic  and  splendid  in 
Paul's  day;  interpreted  today,  it  might  be 
put  in  these  words  as  expressive  of  the  ideal 
attitude  of  each  church  member:  "If  failure 
to  provide  for  the  play  of  the  people  by 
means  of  playgrounds,  social  centers  and 
other  recreational  facilities  makes  my 
brother  to  offend,  I  will  exert  myself  to 
favor  and  to  work  for  the  establishment  of 
these  things." 

The  prime  task  for  the  church  is  to  help 
establish  a  standard  of  recreation  for  the 
community,  and  then  help  the  community  to 

[28] 


ATTITUDE    OF    THE    CHURCH 

find  and  maintain  a  proper  balance  between 
work  and  play.  No  one  can  fail  to  recog- 
nize the  danger  that  grows  out  of  an  exces- 
sive love  of  pleasure.  In  the  midst  of  so 
much  that  is  good  and  bad  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  church  to  help  the  people  to  determine 
what  proportion  of  time  shall  be  put  into 
play  that  is  good,  and  what  proportion  into 
work  that  is  worth  while.  The  craze  for 
pleasure  too  often  exercises  itself,  not  in 
wholesome  relaxation  from  work,  but  in 
excitement  growing  out  of  the  whirl 
of  senseless  amusements,  which  leaves  a 
person  bankrupt  physically,  mentally  and 
morally. 

One  difficulty  is  that  our  play  is  not  dem- 
ocratic enough.  One  part  of  the  people  play 
too  much  and  another  part  have  no  oppor- 
tunity for  play.  For  the  wealthy,  money 
provides  the  means  of  pleasure.  The  auto- 
mobile and  the  yacht  give  them  every  road 
and  every  ocean  for  a  playground.  At  home 
the  best  in  the  theater,  music  and  art  are  at 
their   command.     With   these   people   the 

[29] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

question  is  merely  one  of  choice.  To  the 
great  masses  of  the  people,  however,  there 
is  not  much  range  of  choice.  Because  play 
is  thus  restricted,  it  has  become  largely  an 
expression  of  individuahsm.  People  are 
forced  to  work  together.  Means  must  now 
be  provided  for  all  to  play  and  all  to  play 
together.  That  such  provision  is  appreci- 
ated, witness  the  playgrounds  and  the  mo- 
tion picture  shows. 

Again,  those  who  do  play,  play  out  of  all 
proportion  while  they  play  and  then  work 
out  of  all  proportion  while  they  work.  A 
man  going  on  a  vacation  after  a  hard  year 
in  business  put  so  much  of  his  time  and 
energy  into  his  holiday  that  he  came  back 
to  his  ordinary  tasks  completely  worn  out, 
and  had  to  take  a  rest  from  pleasure  before 
he  was  fit  to  start  in  on  his  work!  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  church  to  educate  with  a  view 
to  proper  proportions ;  to  help  make  it  pos- 
sible for  all  people  to  play  and  to  inculcate 
those  principles  that  will  lead  to  a  right 
balance  between  work  and  play.    It  is  much 

[80] 


ATTITUDE    OF    THE    CHURCH 

more  important  that  the  church  should  do 
these  things  than  that  it  should  cry  out 
continually  against  the  people's  pleasures. 
Hugh  Black  raises  the  question,  "Is  renun- 
ciation the  keynote  of  faith  and  the  accred- 
ited method  of  entering  into  the  fullest 
Christian  life?"  The  individualist  will  an- 
swer this  question  in  the  affirmative.  Puri- 
tanism produced  some  wonderful  characters ; 
men  who  were  giants.  But  in  producing  its 
ideal  Christian  man  or  woman  and  present- 
ing him,  the  sordid  pitiful  story  of  the  mil- 
lions who  failed  and  went  down  in  the  strug- 
gle is  not  told.  Democracy  is  interested  not 
so  much  in  the  ideal  man  as  in  ideal  men. 
It  seeks  the  advancement  of  all,  and  its  suc- 
cess must  be  measured  by  the  general  stand- 
ard of  attainment  of  the  many  rather  than 
by  the  exceptional  position  reached  by  the 
few.  Instead  of  putting  so  much  emphasis 
upon  the  ascetic  ideal,  would  it  not  be  pos- 
sible to  give  it  a  new  definition?  Suppose 
we  call  it  for  want  of  a  better  name  the 
higher  asceticism.     Asceticism  means  pri- 

[81] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

marily  that  method  of  living  which  is  neces- 
sary for  an  athlete,  to  develop  him  to  the 
highest  efficiency.  Asceticism  in  the  Chris- 
tian church  has  meant  the  giving  up  of 
certain  things  in  order  that  the  individual 
soul  might  attain  to  its  fullest  perfection  of 
godliness  as  measured  by  mediaeval  mystical 
conceptions.  The  higher  asceticism  would 
demand  that  the  necessary  sacrifices  be  made 
— perhaps  sacrifices  of  personal  opinion, 
preconceived  notions — in  order  that  the 
whole  of  society  might  be  developed.  Thus 
the  higher  asceticism  would  put  a  new  em- 
phasis on  the  forces  of  democracy.  Graham 
Taylor  says:  "Only  in  our  own  times  have 
our  religious  ideals  been  held  close  enough 
to  earth  to  be  applicable  to  the  local  com- 
munity. The  community  cannot  fail  to 
profit  by  being  faced  by  the  religious  ideal 
of  what  it  ought  to  be,  and  the  church  can- 
not fail  to  gain  by  having  and  proclaiming 
an  ideal  for  its  community.  The  final  test 
of  the  capacity  and  right  of  the  churches  to 
fulfill  their  high  function  in  the  community 

[32] 


o     § 
o    5 

«    >, 

Q    .5 

Hi 

w    ^ 


ATTITUDE   OF   THE    CHURCH 

is  not  the  attitude  of  the  people  toward  the 
church,  but  the  willingness  and  capacity  of 
the  church  to  serve  the  real  interest  of  all 
the  people.  Democracy  coming  to  its  own 
in  local  self-government,  especially  in  the 
city,  challenges  our  time  with  no  more  cate- 
gorical imperative.  Will  the  church  be- 
come democratic?" 

Nowhere  has  the  church  a  better  oppor- 
tunity for  constructive  service  than  through 
interesting  itself  in  the  people's  play.  It 
is  not  enough  simply  to  cry  out  against  the 
apparent  evils.  More  is  demanded.  The 
church  must  set  the  standard  and  then  help 
the  people  to  live  according  to  that  standard. 
This  will  mean  that  it  must  be  more  tolerant, 
more  sympathetic,  more  appreciative  of  the 
reasons  which  lead  the  people  to  do  the 
things  they  do  in  seeking  amusement. 

The  church  also  faces  the  fact  that  our 
modem  commercial  system  allows  childhood 
to  work  for  profit  and  play  for  profit,  and 
against  these  conditions  it  must  needs  fight. 
The  churches  of  any  one  district  can  and 

[88] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

should  lead  the  community  in  an  effort  to 
form  and  adopt  a  play  program  that  shall 
be  adequate  and  constructive,  and  that  shall 
meet  the  needs  of  its  entire  neighborhood. 
This  raises  the  question  as  to  whether  or  not 
the  church  itself  should  provide  the  amuse- 
ments. Such  a  thing  ought  to  be  done  only 
as  a  protest  because  the  community  has 
failed  to  fulfil  its  responsibilities.  Commer- 
cial amusements  can  be  made  serviceable  but 
in  order  to  make  them  so  there  must  be  a 
strict  regulation  of  all  dance  halls,  theaters, 
pool  rooms  and  other  places  of  a  similar 
type.  The  best  results  will  come  from  the 
churches  in  cooperation  with  the  other  forces 
of  the  community.  A  passive  attitude  is 
worse  than  an  active  propaganda  against 
the  evils  of  play  without  any  further  effort. 
But  to  be  sympathetic  toward  the  people, 
to  appreciate  their  needs,  to  oppose  those 
things  which  lower  tastes  and  morals,  and 
then  to  cooperate  heartily  with  all  the  forces 
in  the  community  that  are  helping  to  pro- 
vide play  facilities  for  the  people — this  is 

[84] 


ATTITUDE   OF    THE    CHURCH 

the  program  which  grows  out  of  the  nature 
of  the  gospel  itself,  and  which  cannot  fail 
to  appeal  to  every  lover  of  mankind. 


I85J 


Ill 

PLAY  AND  NORMAL  LIFE 


CHAPTER   III 
PLAY  AND  NORMAL  LIFE 

The  deep-seated  propensity  of  men  and 
women  to  play  proves  its  worth.  This  appe- 
tite is  not  less  fundamental  or  valuable  than 
the  appetite  for  daily  food.  Man's  body  is 
neither  an  enemy  to  be  fought  nor  an  instru- 
ment to  be  used  simply  for  pleasure,  but 
is  the  engine  by  means  of  which  the  real  pur- 
poses of  life  are  to  accomplished.  To  ne- 
glect the  body  is  foolish,  for  mental  ability 
is  largely  dependent  upon  physical  condi- 
tion. So  much  depends  upon  having  a  body 
fit  for  its  tasks  that  it  is  important  that  we 
should  know  what  to  do  in  order  to  keep 
always  up  to  the  mark  in  physical  efficiency. 
Through  the  medium  of  play  this  result  can 
be  best  secured.  Nature  insists,  and  we 
grasp  at  every  opportunity  to  meet  its 
demands. 

By  the  play  of  children  the  bodily  frame 

[891 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

is  strengthened  and  fitted  for  use.  The  law 
of  the  child's  growth  demands  exercise,  and 
this  its  love  of  play  secures.  Every  bone 
and  muscle  in  the  body  is  made  strong,  re- 
sponsive and  fitted  for  its  task  by  play. 
Emerson,  discussing  the  requisites  for  a  gen- 
tleman, pointed  out  that  first  of  all  he  must 
be  a  good  animal.  We  might  go  about  our 
play  with  gloomy  faces  if  conscious  of  hav- 
ing to  play  in  order  to  be  healthy,  but  such 
compulsory  exercise  is  of  less  value  than  that 
in  which  we  are  thoroughly  interested  and 
amused;  thus,  it  has  been  said — "The  great 
thing  is  to  gild  the  pill  of  needful  exercise 
with  the  gold  of  amusement."  Or,  as  an- 
other puts  it,  "To  play  one  game  of  tiddle- 
dee-winks  with  zest  will  do  a  man  more  good 
than  to  push  up  a  five-pound  dumb-bell  a 
thousand  times." 

Experimentation  through  play  also  trains 
the  senses  and  brings  the  growing  boys  and 
girls  into  actual  touch  with  the  world  in 
which  they  are  to  live.  Even  a  kitten  play- 
ing with  a  ball  is  going  through  motions  that 

[40J 


PLAY  AROUSES  NEW  INTERESTS 

1.  Feeding  the  birds 

2.  Bird  Club 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

will  be  required  later  in  life  in  catching  mice. 
Through  these  exercises  it  is  becoming 
strong  physically  and  the  natural  organs  of 
sense  are  being  strengthened  and  trained.  It 
has  been  said  that  the  sports  of  childhood 
do  more  to  train  the  eyes,  ears  and  fingers 
than  any  other  means  of  education.  Most 
boys  find  it  difficult  to  define  what  they 
mean  by  their  right  arm  other  than  that  it 
is  the  one  they  use  in  throwing.  Without 
the  play  of  childhood  most  of  our  organs  of 
sense  would  remain  imdeveloped  or  only 
partially  developed. 

Play  also  serves  the  needs  of  the  intellect. 
It  arouses  new  interests,  recreates  strained 
nerves,  restores  the  mental  balance,  for  after 
hours  of  hard  and  exacting  mental  effort 
brain  relaxation  is  essential.  The  new  sci- 
ence of  mental  health  which  has  taken  for  its 
motto  "Why  worry?"  bases  its  whole  philos- 
ophy upon  the  principles  that  are  involved 
in  play.  He  who  loses  the  power  to  lay 
down  his  work  and  turn  aside  to  some  light 
and   amusing  occupation  is  getting  peri- 

[41] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

lously  near  the  limit  of  mental  sanity.  A 
story  is  told  by  John  Cassian,  the  founder 
of  monasticism  in  the  West,  concerning  the 
Apostle  John.  Tradition  has  it  that  this  old 
apostle  moved  to  Ephesus  and  spent  his 
declining  years  in  solitude.  One  day  a 
young  man  returning  from  the  chase  found 
the  Apostle  sitting  on  a  bench  in  the  shade 
stroking  the  head  of  a  partridge  which  he 
was  holding  on  his  knee.  "Is  this  John?" 
asked  the  young  man  in  surprise.  In  reply 
John  said,  "What  do  you  carry  in  your 
hand?"  "A  bow,"  answered  the  young  man. 
"Why  is  it  unbent?"  asked  John.  "So  that 
it  will  not  lose  its  strength,"  answered  the 
hunter.  "Why  then  should  you  be  sur- 
prised," said  John,  "if  I  relax?"  Herbert 
Spencer,  visiting  our  country  in  1883,  at  a 
farewell  banquet  made  some  criticisms  on 
American  life  in  the  course  of  which  he 
pointed  out  the  effects  of  overwork  on  char- 
acter. He  said:  "What  I  have  seen  and 
heard  during  my  stay  among  you  has  forced 
me  to  the  belief  that  the  slow  change  from 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

habitual  inertness  to  persistent  activity  has 
reached  an  extreme  from  which  there  must 
begin  a  counter-change  and  reaction.  Every- 
where I  have  been  struck  with  the  number 
of  faces  which  have  told  in  strong  lines  of 
the  burdens  which  have  had  to  be  borne.  I 
have  been  struck,  too,  with  the  large  pro- 
portion of  grey  haired  men,  and  inquiries 
have  brought  out  the  fact  that  with  you 
commonly  the  hair  begins  to  turn  some  ten 
years  earlier  than  with  us.  Moreover,  in 
every  circle  I  have  met  with  men  who  have 
suffered  from  nervous  collapse  due  to  stress 
of  business,  or  they  have  named  friends  who 
have  either  killed  themselves  by  overwork, 
been  prematurely  incapacitated,  or  wasted 
long  periods  in  the  endeavor  to  recover 
health.  I  do  but  echo  the  opinions  of  all 
observant  persons  to  whom  I  have  spoken 
that  immense  injury  is  being  done  by  this 
high  pressure  life — the  physique  is  being 
undermined." 

The  fight  for  better  social  conditions  is 
taking  hundreds  of  thousands  of  children 

[43] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

out  of  the  mills;  granting  to  men  of  all 
industries  shorter  hours  and  more  pay;  is 
safeguarding  life  and  making  it  more  diffi- 
cult to  exploit  womanhood;  these  changes 
are  giving  millions  of  people  a  chance  for 
leisure  and  offering  the  opportunity  for 
good  that  may  come  with  leisure.  The 
experience  of  Raymond  Robins  is  significant 
as  illustrating  how  leisure  properly  spent 
will  bring  hope  and  moral  courage.  When 
he  was  nineteen  years  old  he  worked  in  a 
mine  in  the  South  twelve  hours  a  day  for 
a  dollar  a  day.  "When  the  day's  work  was 
done,"  he  says,  "I  used  to  go  to  my  little 
cabin,  eat,  get  into  my  bunk  and  sleep  until 
the  whistle  blew  in  the  morning,  at  six- 
thirty.  Then  I  went  to  the  pit's  mouth  and 
down  into  the  shaft  and  I  picked  day  after 
day,  most  of  the  time  on  my  knees  because 
the  drift  was  narrow.  Along  about  Friday, 
I,  a  young  eager-hearted  boy  would  begin 
to  be  so  tired,  to  feel  the  weariness  of  that 
labor  so  that  I  wanted  a  chance  of  escape. 
How  was  I  to  get  it?    It  was  a  little,  com- 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

mon  dirty  mining  town;  just  one  place 
where  there  was  even  light  and  music  and 
that  was  in  the  crowded  saloon.  I  had  never 
drunk  before  I  came  to  this  mining  camp; 
had  been  raised  on  a  farm;  did  not  know  the 
taste  of  liquor.  I  went  into  that  saloon; 
I  listened  to  the  music ;  I  threw  two  or  three 
beers  imder  my  belt,  and  I  thought  I  was 
happy.  But  I  was  not.  The  next  morning 
I  had  a  head  that  told  me  I  hadn't  been 
happy  and  still  I  would  go  the  next  week 
and  do  the  same  thing,  not  because  I  was 
bad  but  under  the  condition  of  things  it  took 
possession  of  me.  Now  I  found  myself 
going  back  physically ;  becoming  heavy  and 
logy.  There  was  no  sort  of  opportunity. 
Finally  I  went  on  the  brake-beam  to  Colo- 
rado and  got  a  job  in  a  mine.  I  worked 
eight  hours  a  day,  got  four  dollars  a  day  and 
worked  only  six  days  in  the  week.  Life 
changed  for  me.    I  had  leisure." 

With  more  leisure  there  is  a  better  oppor- 
tunity for  decent,  clean  and  wholesome  play. 
This  had  fully  as  much  to  do  with  the  change 
[«] 


The  CHUIlCM   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

in  this  man's  life,  fitting  him  for  his  useful 
and  far-reaching  work,  as  his  studies.  The 
pastor  of  one  of  the  Atlanta  churches  was 
called  to  officiate  at  a  funeral  in  the  mill 
district.  Looking  into  the  face  of  the  dead 
man  with  the  deep  marks,  the  weazened  fea- 
tures and  the  emaciated  body,  the  pastor 
judged  that  he  must  have  been  forty  or 
forty-five  years  of  age,  and  was  greatly  sur- 
prised to  learn,  after  the  service  was  over, 
that  he  had  officiated  at  the  funeral  of  a  boy 
hardly  eighteen  years  old.  This  young  fel- 
low was  the  victim  of  the  mills :  an  old  man 
before  his  time,  dead  at  the  very  threshold 
of  manhood.  He  had  gone  into  the  mills 
when  he  was  nine  years  old  and  the  long 
hours  and  tedious  work  had  made  play 
impossible. 

Play  is  essential  in  developing  the  dispo- 
sition. A  morose,  sour,  too  serious-minded 
person  is  likely  to  be  one  who  was  robbed 
of  play-time  as  a  child.  Play  brings  a 
sparkle  into  the  eyes,  color  into  the  cheeks, 
joy  into  the  disposition.    It  is  intended  that 

[46] 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

the  impulse  in  children  to  play  shall  so 
quicken  pleasurable  emotions  as  to  make  all 
of  life  glad  and  fill  the  days  with  joy.  Spon- 
taneity and  enthusiasm  are  essential  to  the 
highest  intellectual  development.  Without 
these  qualities  a  person  may  be  good,  but 
he  can  hardly  attain  the  highest  reaches  of 
character.  A  cheerful  spirit  and  a  sympa- 
thetic interest  in  men  and  affairs  will  carry 
a  person  far.  Play  cultivates  these  happy 
qualities.  It  tends  to  drive  out  a  petty  fault- 
finding spirit  and  creates  a  disposition  to  be 
companionable  and  easily  pleased. 

One  of  the  shallow  criticisms  of  our  times 
is  that  "we  have  gone  pleasure  mad."  This 
is  only  a  half  truth.  Some  people  are  spend- 
ing too  much  time  in  seeking  amusement, 
but  the  millions  are  forced  to  take  life  too 
seriously.  Our  extreme  devotion  to  busi- 
ness, imder  the  dictates  of  a  false  standard 
of  success,  makes  it  easy  to  run  into  excess 
in  everything  we  imdertake.  It  is  said  of 
that  all-influential  individual  known  as  "the 
tired  business  man"  that  at  night  he  chases 

[47] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

his  pleasures  with  the  same  zeal  as  his  dol- 
lars by  day,  and  it  might  be  added  he  is  often 
as  selfish  and  relentless  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
one  as  of  the  other.  The  successful  man  or 
woman,  however,  is  frequently  one  who  has 
allowed  the  more  serious  side  of  existence  to 
crowd  out  all  that  is  bright  and  cheerful. 
The  criticism  made  on  our  American  life 
that  we  take  our  pleasures  too  seriously  has 
an  element  of  truth  in  it.  This  disposition 
led  De  Tocqueville  to  say:  "I  thought  that 
the  English  constituted  the  most  serious  na- 
tion on  the  face  of  the  earth  but  I  have  since 
seen  the  American  and  have  changed  my 
opinion.  An  American  instead  of  going  in 
a  leisure  hour  to  dance  merrily  at  some  place 
of  public  resort  as  the  fellows  of  our  calling 
continue  to  do  throughout  the  great  part  of 
Europe,  shuts  himself  up  at  home  to  drink. 
He  thus  enjoys  two  pleasures:  He  can  go 
on  thinking  of  his  business  and  he  can  get 
drunk  by  his  own  fireside." 

A  disposition  to  please  and  be  pleased  is 
one  of  the  greatest  possible  assets  for  char- 

[48] 


PLAY  AND   NORMAL   LIFE 

acter  as  well  as  for  success.  Play  enables 
one  "to  make  a  life,"  without  play  it  is 
conceivable  that  one  might  make  a  living. 

The  new  psychology  teaches  us  that  man 
is  a  unit.  Body  and  mind  are  inter-depen- 
dent. Instead  of  body  and  mind  both  being 
of  questionable  value,  and  the  soul  the  only 
thing  worth  while,  we  have  learned  that  a 
man's  character  is  determined  largely  by  the 
quality  of  his  mental  and  physical  powers. 
Just  as  play  develops  physical  and  mental 
strength  and  gives  the  right  turn  to  the  dis- 
position, so  it  stimulates  moral  growth. 
School  athletics  have  played  an  important 
part  in  recreating  the  so-called  bad  boys  and 
making  them  good.  The  athletic  badge  test 
instituted  in  many  of  the  schools  has  had 
a  wonderful  effect  in  bettering  discipHne. 
This  test  is  a  form  of  athletics  that  gives 
every  boy  an  opportunity  to  win  and  bring 
himself  up  to  the  prescribed  physical  stand- 
ard, nor  is  it  necessary  for  him  to  defeat 
other  boys  in  order  to  win.  A  New  York 
school  where  these  standards  were  adopted 

[49] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

had  previously  gained  a  bad  reputation  be- 
cause of  disorder  and  lack  of  discipline.  The 
effort  to  win  the  badges  and  the  necessary 
physical  training  transformed  the  school  and 
brought  about  an  astonishing  revolution.  A 
story  is  told  of  one  boy  who  was  an  invet- 
erate cigarette  smoker.  No  teaching  or 
warning  could  induce  him  to  give  up  the 
habit  which  was  undermining  his  health  and 
destroying  his  mind  and  character.  After 
his  third  trial  to  gain  the  coveted  button  the 
director  of  play  casually  asked — "By  the 
way,  Joe,  do  you  use  cigarettes?"  "Of  course 
I  do,"  he  replied,  "but  that's  got  nothing 
to  do  with  me  not  getting  the  badge."  "Per- 
haps not,"  said  the  director,  "I  was  just  ask- 
ing for  information."  The  boy  tried  in  the 
next  test  and  failed.  Crestfallen  he  sought 
the  director  and  asked  him  if  he  really 
thought  that  cigarettes  had  any  thing  to  do 
with  his  failure.  "I  am  sure  I  can  not  say," 
said  the  director.  "I  have  known  them  to 
interfere  with  the  success  of  athletes.  If 
you  could  give  them  up  it  might  be  worth 

150] 


PLAY  AND   NORMAL   LIFE 

trying,  but  of  course  you  are  so  addicted  to 
the  habit  that  you  could  not  stop  even  if 
you  wanted  to."  "Who  said  I  can't  give 
them  up  ?"  was  the  angry  retort.  "Nobody," 
rephed  the  director,  "but  having  smoked  so 
long  I  just  imagined  you  couldn't."  "You 
will  see,"  was  the  reply  and  sure  enough  he 
stopped  smoking  and  at  the  next  trial,  six 
months  later,  won  his  badge. 

Again  it  is  play  that  develops  the  finer 
quahties  such  as  justice  and  fair  play.  A 
boy  who  learns  in  early  life  to  take  defeat 
gracefully,  who  assumes  the  sportsman's  at- 
titude toward  a  vanquished  contestant  and 
who  scorns  to  strike  below  the  belt,  is  almost 
certain  later  to  bring  these  admirable  char- 
acteristics into  the  more  serious  affairs  of 
life.  Play  has  been  called  "the  recruiting 
office,  the  drill  master,  of  all  the  physical, 
mental  and  moral  powers."  Nature  has  an 
effective  way  in  her  school  of  securing  the 
exercise  which  is  needed  to  develop  the  men- 
tal and  bodily  powers.  "She  crowds  the 
activity  full  of  enjoyment"  and  then  gives 

[81] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

her  children  freedom  for  the  widest  choice 
in  selecting  the  play  that  will  best  meet  and 
fill  the  needs. 

Warren  H.  Wilson  says  of  the  untoward 
conditions  of  country  life:  "It  is  the  com- 
mon opinion  of  rural  leaders  that  country 
life  in  America  has  fallen  out  of  repair. 
The  household,  the  church,  the  school  and 
the  store  in  the  country  show  the  effect  of 
change.  They  are  not  what  they  were  one 
hundred  years  ago.  These  changes  are  seen 
all  over  the  United  States  with  slight  local 
variations.  They  are  uniform  from  Maine 
to  the  Mississippi.  Young  people  are  leav- 
ing the  country  for  the  city.  Teachers  of 
country  schools  move  almost  every  year,  and 
many  ministers  have  despaired  of  the  coun- 
try church."  Our  age  is  being  dominated 
in  a  great  degree  by  the  social  spirit.  We 
have  learned  to  do  things  in  cooperation. 
The  cities  have  been  developed  by  coopera- 
tive effort.  Commerce,  business  education, 
in  fact  all  the  interests  of  Hfe  have  felt  the 
impulse  of  the  growing  sense  of  soHdarity. 

[62] 


COUNTRY  HOME 


A   COUNTRY  ROAD 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

The  individualist  is  at  a  disadvantage. 
Hence  when  we  come  to  a  rural  district  and 
find  individualism  still  strong  and  flourish- 
ing we  are  not  surprised  to  find  also  its  ill 
effects.  The  farmer  is  proud  of  his  inde- 
pendence :  he  stands  by  himself  and  for  him- 
self;  he  will  not  readily  cooperate,  and  it 
is  very  difficult  to  get  him  to  follow  a  leader. 
This  individualism  partially  accounts  for  the 
decay  in  rural  America.  The  strongest  and 
ablest  men  and  women  in  the  older  commu- 
nities have  moved  out  and  peopled  the  new 
frontier.  The  boy  finishing  school  looks  for 
his  opportunity  not  on  the  farm  but  in  the 
city.  He  is  thinking  of  himself  and  his 
future  and  rarely  considers  what  will  be  the 
result  if  all  the  brightest  and  best  men  and 
the  most  capable  young  people  leave  the 
country  districts.  Quoting  Wilson  again: 
"American  life  is  still  affected  by  pioneer 
days.  The  pioneer  was  lonely  in  his  way 
of  life  and  he  was  lonely  in  his  thoughts; 
he  had  to  work  and  fight  for  himself  so  he 
prayed  for  himself.    Self  protection  was  his 

[63] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

battle  all  day  long  and  soul  salvation  was 
his  thought  at  night.  He  wrought  and 
fought  all  the  week  that  he  might  survive, 
and  on  Sunday  he  craved  only  to  hear  how 
he  might  survive  death.  Other  men  have  the 
same  thought  but  the  pioneer  had  it  to  the 
exclusion  of  nearly  all  social  feelings.  The 
individualist  has  this  exclusive  care  of  his 
own  soul,  his  own  children,  his  own  property, 
his  own  pleasures.  So  deep  seated  is  this 
evil  in  American  rural  life  that  it  is  the  foe 
to  the  progress  of  people  in  the  open 
country." 

The  pleasures  of  the  country  are  largely 
individual.  Hunting,  fishing  and  most  of 
the  other  pleasures  and  games  are  founded 
upon  the  ideal  of  individualism.  Over 
against  the  coimtry  we  have  the  city  with 
its  socialized  life;  its  offer  of  pleasure.  The 
glare  of  the  lights  makes  life  in  the  city 
appear  a  happy  state  of  existence  to  the  boy 
and  the  girl  of  the  rural  district  living  mo- 
notonous routine  lives  without  much  com- 
panionship or  many  chances  of  pleasure.    In 

[64] 


PLAY   AND   NORMAL   LIFE 

the  decade  from  1900  to  1910  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  increased  21  per 
cent.,  and  during  the  same  period  the  in- 
crease in  rural  districts  was  only  11.2  per 
cent.  The  decrease,  or  slow  increase,  in  the 
rural  population  throughout  large  sections 
of  the  country  is  due  to  social  rather  than 
economic  conditions.  No  great  improve- 
ment will  be  made  in  rural  conditions  until 
the  people  are  taught  to  play  together. 
Under  the  new  conditions  which  face  the 
country,  with  the  lure  of  the  city  always 
before  the  eyes,  there  must  be  more  interest 
in  organized  play.  This  is  fundamental  to 
the  reconstruction  of  rural  life,  and  is  abso- 
lutely essential  to  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  moral  conditions.  Fiske  thinks  the 
reason  that  farmers  can  not  cooperate  more 
successfully  is  because  they  have  never 
learned  team  work  in  play  as  boys.  Mc- 
Nutt  tells  of  his  experience  in  a  rural  dis- 
trict where  he  went  to  serve  as  pastor  for 
a  summer.  One  of  the  young  lads  he  met 
said  to  him:   "This  neighborhood  is  so  dry 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

socially  that  if  you  should  touch  a  match  to 
it  it  would  burn  up  quickly."  This  boy's 
busy  week  of  thirteen  hours  a  day  and  the 
necessary  work  that  he  had  on  Sunday  is 
typical  of  the  average  conditions  in  farm 
life.  During  the  busy  season  there  is  so 
much  work  to  be  done  that  the  people  find 
no  time  for  pleasure.  Then  during  the  win- 
ter time  they  are  so  shut  in  and  there  is  so 
little  to  do  that  hfe  is  equally  monotonous. 
Thus  the  whole  year  becomes  a  succession  of 
days  with  the  same  tasks  to  perform,  the 
same  interests,  until  gradually  the  outlook 
narrows  and  the  interest  in  life  becomes 
small.  In  some  of  the  western  states  the 
majority  of  the  inmates  in  the  insane  asy- 
lums are  farmers'  wives,  brought  there  by 
the  very  monotony  of  the  life  they  are  forced 
to  lead.  In  the  new  conditions  under  which 
we  are  living  today  with  the  telephone,  the 
telegraph,  and  the  daily  papers  brought  by 
the  rural  carriers  even  to  the  most  out-of- 
the-way  places,  people  learn  of  what  is  going 
on  in  the  world.    These  blessings  of  civiliza- 

[66] 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL    LIFE 

tion  ought  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  coun- 
try life  and  in  many  places  this  result  is 
being  secured ;  but  this  is  not  always  true — 
in  many  localities  this  touch  with  the  outside 
world  only  accentuates  the  monotony  and 
breeds  a  spirit  of  restlessness.  Warren 
Wilson  in  making  a  survey  of  the  rural 
districts  of  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Missouri  and  Kentucky  found  everywhere 
the  same  need  of  recreative  activities.  "Gen- 
erally throughout  the  farming  population  it 
was  discovered  that  no  common  occasion  or 
common  experience  fell  to  the  country  com- 
munity. In  the  course  of  the  year  there  is 
in  thousands  of  farming  communities  no 
single  meeting  that  brings  all  of  the  people 
together.  The  small  town  has  its  fireman's 
parade ;  to  the  small  city  comes  once  a  year 
the  circus  and  to  the  larger  city  comes  the 
exposition.  Every  year  there  is  some  com- 
mon experience  that  welds  the  population, 
increases  acquaintance  and  intensifies  social 
unity.  The  tillage  of  the  soil  in  these  farm- 
ing communities  is  very  lonely." 

157J 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

It  is  important  for  every  moral  considera- 
tion that  people  living  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts should  be  contented  and  have  a  chance 
to  live  normal  lives.  The  present  isolation 
and  hardships  of  life  in  the  open  country 
when  compared  to  the  opportunities  for  eco- 
nomic advancement  and  pleasure  in  the  city 
cause  a  revulsion  of  feeling,  especially  in  the 
life  of  the  young,  which  leads  them  to  aban- 
don the  farm  just  as  soon  as  they  have  an 
opportunity.  "I  hope  I  shall  never  see  that 
dreary  old  ranch  again,"  was  the  comment 
of  a  young  girl  who  was  spending  her  first 
year  in  the  city.  From  a  material  stand- 
point she  and  her  family  were  better  off  in 
the  country;  but  the  cramped  quarters,  the 
sense  of  nearness  to  people,  together  with 
the  recreational  opportunities  and  amuse- 
ments offered  by  the  city  gave  her  a  touch 
of  life  that  she  had  craved  for  years.  She 
is  typical  of  thousands  of  wide-awake  young 
boys  and  girls  to  whom  present  conditions 
of  rural  life  are  simply  unbearable.  A  New 
England  farmer  has  three  boys  who  have 

[68J 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

amazed  their  neighbors  by  staying  on  the 
farm.  One  of  them  has  married  and  put 
up  his  house  on  an  adjoining  farm.  The 
father  some  years  ago  called  his  boys  into 
counsel,  telling  them  that  the  farm  was  a 
family  business,  and  suggested  that  they 
consider  themselves  as  partners  in  the  enter- 
prise. By  mutual  consent  they  decided  that 
eight  hours  should  constitute  a  day's  work. 
They  borrowed  money,  put  in  up-to-date 
machinery,  fixed  up  the  house,  making  it 
modern,  then  they  bought  an  automobile 
and  on  Saturday  afternoons  and  frequently 
during  the  week  they  drove  twelve  miles  to 
the  near-by  city.  The  boys  became  the 
active  spirits  in  organizing  sports  among  the 
boys  and  men  of  the  surrounding  farms. 

Contrast  the  wisdom  and  sanity  of  this 
plan  with  that  of  another  farmer  who  re- 
fused to  let  his  boy  have  Saturday  afternoon 
off  to  join  other  boys  in  the  neighborhood 
in  forming  a  baseball  club.  "Baseball," 
he  shouted,  "what  in  tarnation  do  you  want 
to  play  baseball  for?  Don't  you  get  enough 
l«9l  ; 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

exercise  during  the  week?"  The  country 
life  of  America  will  never  become  what  it 
ought  to  be  until  the  people  are  made  more 
democratic  by  learning  to  play  together. 
"The  great  asset  of  recreation  in  the  coun- 
try is  the  opportunity  to  meet  and  talk. 
The  problem  is  purely  one  of  play,  not  of 
exercise.  Recreation  is  essential  to  the 
moral  life  of  any  people.  It  is  the  construc- 
tive method  of  making  individuals  into  good 
citizens.  Especially  valuable  is  it  as  a  means 
of  educating  the  young  people  of  the  work- 
ing people  of  the  community.  The  craving 
for  this  social  training  and  ethical  experience 
drives  many  out  of  the  rural  districts.  Con- 
versely training  in  social  morality  is  to  be 
undertaken  especially  by  the  Church  which 
possesses  the  conscience  of  the  country  com- 
munity. This  training  is  expressed  in  the 
one  phrase:  the  promotion  of  recreation." 
If  we  note  great  changes  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts how  much  greater  are  the  changes  in 
the  city.  The  modem  city  is  the  product 
of  the  steam-driven  machine,  and  is  the  re- 

[60] 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

flex  of  the  country.  The  cities  have  grown 
large  just  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  their 
factories.  About  these  huge  buildings  used 
for  commercial  purposes  the  people  have 
come  in  hordes  to  work  in  the  factories  and 
to  live  in  the  adjacent  tenements.  The  city 
furnishes  light,  water,  pavements,  rules  and 
regulations  governing  life  and  gives  very 
little  opportunity  for  the  individual  to 
choose  for  himself  what  he  will  do.  Most 
of  his  choices  are  settled  for  him  by  the 
statutes  and  laws  governing  the  city.  The 
one  thing  that  the  city  has  not  been  careful 
about  is  providing  opportunities  and  facili- 
ties for  the  people's  play.  Shrewd  men, 
often  without  any  moral  scruples,  have  seen 
this  opportunity  created  by  the  city's  neglect 
and  have  entered  the  field  offering  people 
all  sorts  of  opportunities  for  pleasure  of 
kinds  and  at  prices  that  will  suit  the  taste, 
the  curiosity  and  the  pocketbook  of  all.  A 
quaint  old  back-woods  preacher  in  Illinois 
stated  it  about  right  when  he  preached  a 
sermon  occasioned  by  the  going  away  of 

[81] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

two  of  the  young  people  of  the  commu- 
nity, who  were  starting  East  to  school.  In 
the  course  of  his  sermon  he  said:  "Beware 
of  the  city.  I  tell  you  it  is  simply  one 
of  Satan's  hooks  baited  with  tempting  mor- 
sels at  which  young  fools  are  very  apt  to 
nibble."  Life  in  the  city  is  regulated  by  the 
factory  and  the  rules  of  the  factory.  Mod- 
ern industry  settles  the  most  important  ques- 
tions, such  as,  the  house  we  must  live  in;  the 
conditions  under  which  we  live;  the  hours 
we  shall  work;  where  we  shall  spend  our 
leisure.  The  only  thing  it  ignores  is  the  ques- 
tion of  how  we  shall  spend  our  leisure.  Here 
it  shirks  its  responsibility ;  and  this  is  by  all 
odds  one  of  the  most  important  questions 
that  we  have  to  face.  Instead  of  the  home 
being  the  center  of  activity  most  working 
people  live  in  the  factory.  They  rest  and 
eat  at  home  so  that  they  may  be  fit  for  the 
demands  of  the  factory.  Michael  M.  Davis, 
writing  of  the  exploitation  of  pleasure  in 
New  York  says  of  the  city:  "The  home 
shrinks  to  a  nest  of  boxes  tucked  four  stories 

[62J 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

in  the  air,  or  the  half  of  a  duplex  house  hud- 
dled among  its  neighbors.  There  is  space 
to  sleep  and  eat  but  not  to  live.  The  habi- 
tation becomes  a  sleeping  box,  an  eating 
den.  Too  often  no  more.  Specialized  in- 
dustry, the  basis  of  the  modern  city,  makes 
it  possible  for  large  numbers  of  people  to 
live  and  support  themselves  within  a  re- 
stricted area.  This  crowding  of  population 
creates  a  human  pressure  under  which  most 
of  the  normal  tendencies  of  life  must  find 
new  forms,  or  at  least  new  modes  of  mani- 
festation. This  is  a  result  of  the  mere  fact 
that  the  physical  limits  of  space  fall  so  far 
beneath  the  minimum  of  human  demands  for 
self-expression." 

System  is  the  one  essential  of  success  in 
industry.  There  are  certain  definite  proc- 
esses that  must  be  done  in  a  definite  way.  A 
fixed  number  of  hours  are  devoted  to  the 
same  task,  day  after  day,  year  in  and  year 
out.  Go  into  any  factory  and  see  the  proc- 
ess ;  get  acquainted  with  those  who  are  do- 
ing the  work  and  you  will  find  how  inevi- 

[68] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

tably  the  worker  comes  to  think  of  himself 
as  a  part  of  the  machine. 

Jane  Addams,  pointing  out  the  strain  of 
changed  conditions  brought  about  by  the 
city,  says:  "IndustriaHsm  has  gathered  to- 
gether multitudes  of  eager  young  creatures 
from  all  quarters  of  the  earth  as  the  labor 
supply  for  the  countless  work-shops  upon 
which  the  present  industrial  city  is  based. 
Never  before  in  civilization  have  such  num- 
bers of  young  girls  been  suddenly  released 
from  the  protection  of  the  home,  and  per- 
mitted to  walk  unattended  on  city  streets, 
and  to  work  under  alien  roofs ;  for  the  first 
time  they  are  being  prized  more  for  their 
labor  powers  than  for  their  innocence,  their 
tender  beauty  and  ephemeral  gaiety.  So- 
ciety cares  more  for  the  products  they  man- 
ufacture than  for  their  immemorial  ability 
to  reaffirm  the  charm  of  existence.  Never 
before  have  such  numbers  of  young  boys 
earned  money  independently  of  the  family 
life  and  felt  themselves  free  to  spend  it  as 
they  choose.     The   stupid  experiment   of 

[64] 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

organizing  work  and  failing  to  organize  play 
has  of  course  brought  about  a  fine  revenge." 
Industrialism,  with  its  system,  pays  a 
premium  on  monotony.  The  same  process 
carried  on  for  nine  or  ten  hours  a  day,  espe- 
cially if  it  be  a  process  as  simple  as  pasting 
labels,  tending  a  machine,  or  doing  any  one 
of  a  thousand  things  that  are  demanded  in 
the  modem  factory,  is  so  deadening  that 
inmiediately  when  the  worker  is  released  he 
seeks  some  excitement.  Formerly  work  had 
in  it  an  element  of  recreation.  An  old  gen- 
tleman, past  eighty  years  of  age,  boasted 
before  a  state  committee  investigating  child 
labor  that  when  he  was  a  boy  twelve  years 
old  he  went  to  work,  therefore,  he  thought 
it  was  nonsense  to  take  the  children  under 
fourteen  out  of  the  modem  factory.  There 
is  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  a 
boy  working  with  his  father  in  America  sev- 
enty years  ago  and  the  modern  boy  working 
ten  hours  a  day  in  a  factory.  Our  close 
attention  to  business  and  the  monotony  of 
the  industrial  life  makes  its  imperative  de- 

[65] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

mands.  After  the  day's  toil  when  the  thou- 
sands of  workers  are  released  and  have  their 
few  hours  of  leisure,  what  are  they  to  do? 
We  are  saying  today  that  our  country  has 
gone  mad  on  the  subject  of  amusements. 
Rather  say  we  have  been  mad  for  years  on 
the  subject  of  work  and  the  efforts  of  the 
people  to  find  amusement  is  simply  the  in- 
evitable reaction. 

How  are  the  people  to  play?  That  is  the 
problem  that  faces  us  whenever  we  think  of 
the  changed  conditions  under  which  we  are 
living.  The  city  street  is  the  play-ground. 
Released  from  the  factory  the  crowds  drift 
down  the  street  seeking  their  pleasure.  The 
boys  and  girls  play  their  games  here  because 
very  often  it  is  the  only  place  they  can  play. 
Their  games  are  such  as  can  be  developed 
under  the  cramped  conditions  that  they  find 
in  the  street.  A  game  of  ball  would  be  much 
more  enjoyable  played  in  a  vacant  lot,  or  in 
a  large  back  yard,  but  as  these  places  are  not 
available  the  street  is  the  chosen  place.  The 
policeman  on  his  beat  is  looked  upon  as  the 

166] 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

natural  enemy  of  all  sport  and  an  eye  must 
be  kept  open  for  the  "cop"  at  all  times. 
Harmless  sports  because  they  are  forbidden 
easily  give  place  to  more  vicious  practices. 
Later  the  street  becomes  the  highway  to 
other  places  of  pleasure.  The  saloon,  the 
pool-room,  the  theater,  the  dance  hall,  the 
moving  picture  show,  the  candy  shop,  the 
penny  arcade,  all  of  these  are  a  part  of  the 
people's  play  opportunities.  Most  of  them 
are  bad,  some  of  them  are  of  questionable 
value,  a  few  of  them  may  be  good,  but  they 
are  all  provided  because  it  is  profitable  to 
cater  to  the  people's  love  of  play.  If  the 
dollars  fail,  the  saloon  closes  and  the  lights 
are  dimmed  in  the  pool-room. 

The  people's  play  in  all  of  our  cities  is  in 
the  hands  of  men  who  are  interested  only  in 
profits  and  who  are  for  the  most  part  indif- 
ferent, careless  and  morally  callous  in  regard 
to  the  moral  and  social  effect  of  the  amuse- 
ments offered.  The  gaudy,  the  cheap,  the 
loud,  the  noisy,  the  subdued  and  the  elegant 
every  type  of  play  facility  is  offered  and 

1 67  J 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

people  seek  out  these  to  escape  the  crowded 
turmoil  of  the  street,  to  get  away  from  the 
humdrum  existence  of  factory  and  shop  and 
to  escape  the  discomforts  of  home  for  a  few 
hours  of  leisure.  Commercial  enterprise  and 
good  business  sense  are  thus  doing  what  the 
city  has  failed  to  do.  The  business  that  pro- 
vides for  the  people's  pleasures  is  big  busi- 
ness. Lindsay  in  "The  Beast"  shows  how 
other  big  business  is  closely  affiliated  with 
commercialized  recreation.  Our  success  in 
organizing  work  and  at  the  same  time  leav- 
ing unscrupulous  money  grabbers  to  provide 
for  the  people's  recreation  is  creating  havoc. 
To  quote  from  Jane  Addams:  "The  love  of 
pleasure  will  not  be  denied  and  when  no  ade- 
quate provision  is  made  for  its  expression 
it  turns  into  all  sorts  of  malignant  vicious 
appetites.  Seeing  these  things  the  middle 
aged  become  quite  distracted  and  resort  to 
all  sorts  of  restrictive  measures.  We  often 
seek  to  dam  up  the  sweet  fountain  itself 
because  we  are  affrighted  by  these  turgid 
streams,  but  although  we  vex  ourselves  with 

[68] 


PLAY   AND   NORMAL   LIFE 

restrictive  measures  and  complain  of  their 
futility  we  do  not  see  that  the  city  itself  has 
failed  in  its  object  in  the  matter  and  that  the 
root  of  the  difficulty  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  modem  city  has  turned  over  to  com- 
mercialism practically  all  the  provisions  for 
public  recreation."  To  quote  again  from 
Davis'  report  on  exploitation  of  pleasure  in 
New  York :  "Modem  industry  and  its  prod- 
uct, the  modern  city,  create  home  conditions 
which  for  the  mass  of  the  people  are  too 
crowded  and  too  ill  arranged  to  permit  the 
enjoyable  spending  of  time  within  the  home. 
Recreation  for  the  most  part  must  be  sought 
elsewhere.  Commercial  enterprise  taking 
advantage  of  the  opening  thus  created  has 
developed  recreation  provisions  to  a  wonder- 
ful extent,  furnishing  opportunities  adapted 
to  every  age  and  to  every  grade  of  intellect 
artistic  and  moral  development." 

The  saloons  offer  an  easy  and  conven- 
ient opportunity  for  recreation.  The  liquor 
interests  have  built  up  a  mighty  system 
and  in  most  of  our  large  cities  the  best 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

street  corners  are  preempted  by  the  saloon. 
Men  do  not  go  to  the  saloon  solely  for 
the  pleasure  of  drinking.  Liquor  drinking 
of  course  is  one  reason  for  their  going, 
but  it  is  the  social  life  and  the  opportunity 
for  recreation  that  the  saloon  offers  that 
makes  it  so  popular.  Alcohol  develops  good 
feeling,  gives  men  a  desire  to  talk,  and 
when  taken  moderately,  the  abihty  to  con- 
verse pleasingly,  hence  from  the  earliest 
times  some  kind  of  liquor  has  been  used  in 
connection  with  social  gatherings.  In  mod- 
em times  the  saloon  has  capitalized  this  age- 
long custom  and  has  surrounded  the  mere 
drinking  of  liquor  with  the  means  for  enjoy- 
ing sociability  and  fellowship.  Jack  Lon- 
don says:  "The  news-boys  on  the  streets, 
the  sailor,  the  miner  and  the  wanderer  in 
far  lands,  always  where  men  came  together 
to  counsel,  it  was  always  to  laugh  and  boast 
and  dare,  to  relax,  to  forget  the  dull  tire- 
some nights  and  days,  and  always  they  came 
together  over  alcohol.  The  saloon  was  the 
place  of  congregation."     To  the  poor  man 

[70] 


►J  u- 

oa 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

the  saloon  is  his  club,  his  social  center. 
"Here  he  finds  relaxation  after  the  long  day 
in  the  dust  and  roar  of  the  factory  such  as 
the  crowded  and  slouchy  rooms  he  calls  home 
will  not  furnish.  Here  he  can  escape  the 
crying  children  and  get  the  companionship 
of  men  interested  in  the  same  things  he  is. 
There  are  games,  cards,  pool,  reports  from 
the  baseball  games,  races  and  prize  fights, 
sometimes  music,  and  a  warm  place  in  which 
to  enjoy  them.  There  is  no  feeling  of  con- 
straint, on  the  contrary  the  manager  is  glad 
to  have  him  remain  so  long  as  he  is  spending 
money.  All  these  enjoyments  may  be  pur- 
chased for  an  evening  at  the  exceedingly 
small  price  of  a  few  beers,  or  even  a  single 
glass,  with  a  free  lunch  thrown  in.  The 
saloon  is  a  democratic  institution  open 
freely  to  every  one  and  criticising  no 
one. 

The  dance  hall  is  usually  controlled  by  the 
same  type  of  men  who  control  the  saloon. 
Surveys  in  New  York,  Kansas  City,  Chi- 
cago, Cleveland  and  other  large  cities  show 

[71] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

that  there  is  a  very  close  relationship  be- 
tween the  dance  halls  and  the  saloons.  It 
is  this  fact  that  makes  dancing  so  danger- 
ous. Thousands  of  young  people  who  enjoy 
dancing  and  to  whom  there  is  no  other  op- 
portunity open  for  recreation  and  amuse- 
ment find  their  way  into  the  public  dance 
hall,  going  there  with  the  best  intentions  in 
the  world,  after  the  long  day  at  pasting 
labels,  dipping  candy,  wrapping  bundles,  or 
some  such  occupation  fatiguing  to  the  body 
and  which  starves  the  imagination.  It  is 
natural  for  them  to  crave  the  kind  of  excite- 
ment that  the  dance  offers.  The  Juvenile 
Protective  Association  in  Chicago  found — 
"the  conditions  existing  in  the  dance  halls 
and  in  adjacent  saloons  transform  the  en- 
tirely innocent  desire  for  the  dance  and  for 
social  enjoyment  into  drunkenness,  vice  and 
debauchery.  Saloon-keepers  and  prosti- 
tutes are  in  many  cases  the  only  chaperons 
and  in  a  majority  of  the  places  even  the 
young  girls  and  boys  fresh  from  school  are 
plied  with  alcohol  and  with  suggestions  of 

[72] 


PLAY   AND    NORMAL   LIFE 

vice  until  dancing  ceases  to  be  recreation  and 
becomes  flagrant  immorality." 

Next  to  the  dance  halls  in  interest  are  the 
theaters  and  moving  picture  shows,  pool- 
rooms, candy  shops  and  cigar  stores.  They 
are  also  offering  the  chance  for  the  people 
to  play.  There  is  no  opportunity  for  choice, 
and  few  people  in  the  community  have  the 
money,  the  leisure  and  the  good  taste  neces- 
sary to  provide  themselves  and  their  fam- 
ilies with  the  right  kind  of  play  facilities. 

Commercialized  play  facilities  are  not 
necessarily  bad  in  and  of  themselves.  Most 
people  prefer  to  pay  their  way  and  there 
is  no  complaint  because  of  the  cost.  Nor 
should  we  judge  a  group  of  men  harshly 
simply  because  they  have  made  a  good  busi- 
ness venture.  The  point  is  that  the  play 
facilities  should  be  in  the  hands  of  all  the 
people.  When  people  danced  at  home  the 
problem  of  dancing  was  individual.  Under 
present  conditions  dancing  is  a  social  prob- 
lem. So  with  every  feature  connected  with 
this  problem.    Our  cities  have  been  stupid 


THE  CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

in  organizing  industry  and  not  organizing 
play.  When  they  come  to  interest  them- 
selves primarily  in  the  welfare  of  men, 
women  and  children,  when  they  put  the 
needs  of  humanity  first,  then  great  changes 
will  be  seen.  But  so  long  as  a  city  is  con- 
tent to  leave  provision  for  the  people's  play 
in  the  hands  of  private  enterprise  it  should 
at  least  see  that  these  hands  are  clean,  and 
that  the  forms  of  recreation  are  safe. 


[74] 


IV 

DANGERS  AND  DISASTERS 


CHAPTER   IV 

DANGERS  AND  DISASTERS 

The  pastor  of  a  church  located  in  the 
midst  of  a  city's  most  congested  part  was 
called  out  of  bed  early  one  morning  by  the 
police  and  requested  to  come  to  the  station 
where  they  had  locked  up  a  seventeen-year- 
old  girl  who  was  taken  in  a  raid  made  upon 
a  neighboring  lodging  house.  Her  home 
was  in  a  well-to-do  suburb  and  her  people 
had  known  the  minister,  hence  when  she  got 
into  trouble  she  asked  the  police  officers  to 
send  for  him.  He  was  able  to  secure  her 
release  and  send  her  home.  Her  people 
were  very  religious  and  lived  a  quiet  life. 
There  was  little  for  her  to  do  each  day  after 
returning  home  from  work  in  the  city  where 
she  had  been  employed  since  her  graduation 
from  high  school  the  year  before.  She  fre- 
quently attended  parties  at  a  dance  hall  in 
the  village  against  the  wishes  of  her  parents, 

[71] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

who  were  very  much  opposed  to  dancing, 
card  playing  and  theater  going.  At  this 
dance  hall  she  met  a  man  who  became  atten- 
tive to  her  and  at  last  at  his  suggestion  she 
ran  away  with  him  and  came  to  the  city  to 
be  married.  They  had  been  living  in  a  lodg- 
ing house  for  nearly  a  week  and  every  day 
the  marriage  had  been  put  off.  The  police 
raided  the  place,  and  thus  her  pitiful  story 
was  made  public. 

This  girl  had  lived  a  repressed  life  and 
repression  is  often  disastrous.  "How  could 
my  daughter  go  to  these  public  dances  ?  She 
has  deceived  us  all.  It  seems  impossible  that 
she  should  have  become  acquainted  with  such 
a  man.  Who  is  he?  I  never  heard  of  him." 
Such  was  the  naive  protest  of  the  mother. 
"The  repressed  girl,  if  she  is  not  of  the  lan- 
guishing type,"  says  Jane  Addams,  "is  very 
apt  to  take  things  into  her  own  hands."  In 
this  case  the  young  woman  found  her  pleas- 
ure in  illicit  ways  and  came  to  harm  because 
she  was  denied  an  opportunity,  for  sane, 
reasonable  amusement. 

[78] 


DANGERS    AND    DISASTERS 

A  lesson  may  be  drawn  from  this  incident 
to  show  that  the  city  is  to  blame  for  allow- 
ing places  to  exist  where  a  young  girl  could 
be  betrayed  with  such  ease.  The  city  does 
come  in  for  a  share  of  blame  for  its  care- 
lessness. Another  lesson,  and  that  most  fre- 
quently drawn,  is  that  the  dance  is  a  bad 
thing  and  that  young  people  should  be  urged 
to  refrain  from  dancing,  for,  unless  they  do 
so,  they  are  in  immediate  danger  of  being 
lost.  Both  these  lessons  are  important.  A 
city  is  often  criminally  neglectful  about  car- 
ing for  its  children  and  there  are  dangers 
which  grow  up  in  a  ball  room.  But  neither 
a  disreputable  part  of  the  city,  nor  dancing, 
is  to  be  held  wholly  accountable  for  this  dis- 
aster. It  is  folly  to  assume  that  in  the  quiet 
monotony  of  a  God-fearing  neighborhood 
young  people  will  be  satisfied  to  spend  their 
evenings  at  home  doing  nothing,  or  at  most 
reading,  or  will  find  sufficient  pleasure  in 
attending  church  services.  In  a  study  made 
of  a  suburban  community  it  was  found  that 
the  people  were  cordial,  well  educated  and 

[79] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

refined ;  they  were  of  the  upper  middle  class, 
most  of  the  men  working  in  the  city  and 
earning  good  salaries;    their  homes  were 
comfortable  and  many  of  them  elaborate  in 
architecture  and  arrangement.     The  com- 
munity was  well  supplied  with  churches  and 
school-houses :  and  altogether  life  there  was 
said  to  be  pleasant.    The  investigator  made 
his  first  visit  on  a  Saturday  evening.     As 
he  alighted  from  the  train  another  train 
pulled  out  for  the  city.    It  was  loaded  with 
young  men  and  women  going  to  the  thea- 
ters and  other  places  of  amusement.     In 
twenty  minutes  they  would  find  light,  music 
and  all  the  attractions  that  the  city  had  to 
offer.    They  had  left  behind  them  a  rather 
gloomy  suburban  town  where  the  lights  were 
totally  inadequate  to  dispel  the  darkness  and 
where  at  nine  o*clock  almost  every  light  was 
extinguished.     When   the   policeman   was 
asked  why  the  town  was  not  better  lighted, 
he  replied:    "What's  the  use?    Everybody 
stays  at  home  or  goes  to  the  city  at  night, 
those  who  go  to  the  city  don't  need  the  lights 
180] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

and  those  who  stay  at  home  go  to  bed." 
The  few  stores  on  the  main  street  were 
mostly  deserted.  In  the  comer  drug  store 
a  group  of  half  a  dozen  boys  were  talking; 
on  the  opposite  corner  was  a  similar  group 
who  had  stopped  for  a  moment  on  their  way 
to  the  near-by  pool-room.  As  they  entered 
they  were  greeted  by  a  dozen  boys  already 
in  the  place  playing  at  the  two  battered 
tables.  The  room  was  long  and  narrow,  the 
floor  filthy,  looking  as  if  it  had  never  been 
cleaned.  There  were  four  electric  lights 
burning,  but  the  globes  were  so  dirty  that 
the  lights  were  yellow  and  feeble.  The 
evening  was  cold  and  raw;  the  only  means 
of  heating  was  a  stove  which  had  had  a  fire 
in  it  early  in  the  day,  but  the  fire  was  out  I 
Nearly  everyone  in  the  room  wore  his  over- 
coat. Two  of  the  boys  had  hung  up  their 
coats  but  the  minute  they  finished  the  game 
they  put  them  on  again.  The  two  pool 
tables  had  evidently  seen  hard  service  and 
did  not  set  level.  The  small  price  charged 
by  the  manager  was  promptly  paid,  and  as 

[81] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

one  game  was  finished  another  began.  Al- 
most all  the  boys  played,  or  had  a  chance 
to  play,  dm'ing  the  evening.  An  especially 
attractive  fellow  said  that  he  was  a  senior 
in  the  local  high  school.  His  father  had  a 
position  in  the  city.  When  asked  why  he 
came  to  spend  the  evening  in  such  a  place 
he  replied:  "There  is  no  other  chance  for  a 
fellow  to  have  any  fun,  except  at  the  bowl- 
ing alley."  The  bowling  alley  was  across 
the  street  in  the  basement  of  a  rather  pre- 
tentious building.  It  was  a  very  attractive 
place,  clean,  well  ventilated,  with  fine  lights 
and  the  alleys  in  good  condition  for  playing. 
There  were  three  groups  here;  six  or  eight 
older  men;  ten  or  twelve  high  school  boys; 
five  or  six  lads  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years 
of  age.  Boys  younger  than  twelve  years 
were  not  allowed  to  enter.  At  the  back 
window  three  eager  faces  were  pressed 
against  the  glass.  These  were  boys  who 
had  just  been  denied  admittance  because 
"You  kids  ain't  twelve  years  old."  The 
older  men  were  doing  the  playing  and  were 

[82] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

crack  members  of  a  local  bowling  club. 
Bowling  is  a  favorite  sport  in  the  commu- 
nity and  these  men  were  practising  so  that 
the  prestige  of  their  club  might  be  main- 
tained. The  others  in  the  room  were  merely 
onlookers.  There  was  a  dance  hall  on  the 
main  street,  but  it  was  only  occasionally 
used.  One  of  the  high  school  boys,  a  spokes- 
man for  the  group,  said  that  he  did  not  often 
come  to  these  places;  Friday  and  Saturday 
nights  being  the  only  times  he  could  go  dur- 
ing the  school  year.  When  asked  if  he  came 
to  the  pool  room  and  the  bowhng  alley  be- 
cause he  liked  them  he  replied:  "No.  But 
what  can  a  fellow  do?  My  old  man  comes 
home  tired  and  cross  and  sits  around  the 
house  smoking  or  reading  the  papers  and 
wants  everybody  to  go  to  bed  at  nine  o'clock. 
After  I  graduate  from  High  it  is  me  for 
a  job  in  the  city,  then  good-night  to  such 
slow  joints  as  these."  Here  was  a  boy  with 
the  best  possible  stuff  in  him,  yet  the  monot- 
ony of  the  place  was  crushing  to  death  his 
best  impulses,  and  as  a  reaction  against  it 

[83] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

he  hugged  to  his  heart  the  vision  of  the  city 
with  its  opportunities  for  fun,  and  was  just 
counting  the  days  until  he  would  be  eman- 
cipated from  the  deadly  round  of  suburban 
existence  and  could  have  his  chance  for  "real 
life."  His  was  a  wrong  perspective  of 
course,  but  who  gave  it  to  him?  This  boy 
with  all  his  good  blood  and  training  is  in 
more  danger  from  the  evils  which  beset 
youth's  pathway  than  a  boy  who  is  equally 
well  brought  up  in  the  city.  This  ought  not 
to  be  so,  but  om*  respectable  suburban  com- 
munities furnish  more  of  the  world's  moral 
failures  than  would  be  generally  imagined. 
It  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  a  large  num- 
ber of  such  failures  could  be  averted  if  the 
people  of  these  otherwise  ideal  communities 
put  as  much  thought  on  the  boys'  and  girls' 
pleasures  as  they  do  on  the  questions  of 
bread  and  butter  and  buildings. 

The  failure  to  provide  opportunities  for 
play,  and  then  the  failure  to  direct  youth  in 
its  play,  are  not  the  worst  phases  of  the 
situation,  for  in  some  places  there  is  a  real 

[84] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

antagonism  to  the  spirit  of  play  and  the 
desire  for  pleasure  when  an  expression  of 
these  has  been  attempted  by  yoimg  people. 
More  than  one  church  has  been  divided  by 
a  clash  between  the  older  and  the  younger 
people  over  the  question  of  the  use  of  the 
church  building  for  social  purposes.  Good 
people  have  persistently  taken  a  negative 
position  on  the  question  of  play.  If  the 
popular  forms  of  amusement  are  bad  and 
we  strive  to  remove  them  it  is  only  fair  that 
something  should  be  put  in  their  place.  Ten 
boys,  ranging  in  age  from  twelve  to  fifteen, 
rented  two  rooms  in  the  basement  of  a  house 
on  a  respectable  street  of  a  little  "satellite" 
city.  They  paid  two  dollars  a  month  for 
the  use  of  the  rooms  and  each  boy  brought 
some  article  of  furniture,  found  by  rummag- 
ing in  the  family  attic,  and  thus  furnished 
the  club  rooms.  They  organized  with  a 
president  and  secretary  and  charged  a  small 
sum  for  dues.  They  played  dominoes, 
checkers  and  such  card  games  as  they  knew, 
old  maid  and  casino  being  very  popular. 

[86] 


THE   CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

Most  of  the  boys  drew  books  from  the  local 
library  and  would  bring  these  to  the  club, 
to  read  and  discuss  the  stories.  The  group 
was  not  always  on  its  good  behavior.  Some- 
times there  was  "rough  house,"  but  on  the 
whole  it  was  as  orderly  and  well  conducted 
a  club  as  could  be  expected  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. Instead  of  the  neighbors  see- 
ing the  possibilities  for  good  and  helping  the 
boys  to  develop  along  right  lines  they  began 
to  complain  of  and  exaggerate  the  things 
that  happened.  All  that  the  boys  were  at- 
tempting to  do  was  to  ape  their  fathers  and 
grown-up  brothers  who  belonged  to  regular 
clubs  in  the  city.  At  their  luncheons  the 
staples  in  the  way  of  good  things  to  eat  were 
candies  and  pickles  purchased  at  the  corner 
store,  with  ginger  ale  and  champagne  cider 
for  drinks.  The  gossips  in  the  neighborhood 
finally  formed  a  committee  and  went  to  the 
lady  who  owned  the  house,  and  to  please 
pubhc  opinion  she  had  to  turn  out  the  boys. 
This  town  has  never  had  a  saloon.  It  is  the 
home  of  much  temperance  agitation  and  sev- 

[86] 


DANGERS    AND    DISASTERS 

eral  members  of  this  club  were  the  sons  of 
the  strongest  temperance  advocates  in  the 
commmiity.  A  few  years  later  most  of  them 
were  working  in  the  city  and  they  began 
to  get  together  at  restaurants  and  saloons 
to  talk  over  old  times.  There  was  now  no 
formal  effort  to  form  a  club  but  the  old  gang 
spirit  asserted  itself  unconsciously,  and  in 
groups  they  went  from  place  to  place,  drink- 
ing more  or  less  and  having  a  gay  time. 
The  results  have  been  tragic  and  show  the 
danger  of  shutting  out  an  opportunity 
for  clean,  decent,  normal  play,  and  then 
leaving  wide  open  the  varied  mischievous 
city  opportunities  for  eager  boys  and 
girls. 

Another  club  of  boys  in  a  suburban  com- 
munity of  much  the  same  character  called 
itself  the  Picayune  Club.  One  of  the  boys 
having  heard  of  sour  mash  brought  a  bottle 
of  butter  milk  and  assured  the  others  that 
it  was  the  real  thing  and  they  all  drank  it, 
with  the  feeling,  that  they  were  indeed, 
doing  something  bad, — but  men  drank  sour 

[87] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

mash  and  why  not  be  as  much  like  men  as 
possible  ? 

These  fine  communities  express  that  which 
is  best  in  our  church  life  today  but  the 
monotony  of  the  hves  of  many  persons  in 
the  community  is  unrealized  and  is  intensi- 
fied by  the  community's  poverty  in  recrea- 
tional resources.  The  men  for  the  most  part 
find,  during  their  work  day  in  the  city,  cer- 
tain pleasures  and  interests.  The  business 
man  has  his  club,  his  group  of  friends.  The 
city,  with  its  roar  and  its  hustle,  adds  to  the 
excitement  of  his  life.  In  one  of  the  restau- 
rants of  Chicago  there  is  a  round  table  where 
for  ten  years  the  same  group  of  business 
men  have  met  for  luncheon  every  day. 
Sometimes  they  shake  dice.  Some  days 
they  play  a  game  with  cubes  of  sugar.  Each 
man  puts  a  cube  in  front  of  his  plate ;  then 
they  make  a  pool  of  five  or  ten  cents  each 
and  the  man  upon  whose  cube  of  sugar  a  fly 
first  settles  takes  the  pool.  They  are  as 
interested  in  watching  to  see  who  is  going 
to  win  this  simple  little  game  as  they  would 

[88] 


DANGERS    AND    DISASTERS 

be  over  some  big  turn  in  their  business  af- 
fairs. They  appear  to  be  substantial,  con- 
servative, sedate  middle-aged  gentlemen, 
who  might  live  in  Evanston,  Oak  Park  or 
any  one  of  the  dozen  other  suburban  towns 
and  they  want  their  boys  to  be  just  like 
themselves  when  at  home.  The  boys,  how- 
ever, have  been  in  an  imnatural  atmosphere 
most  of  the  day  and  they  prefer  during  their 
leisure  time  in  the  evening  to  be  more  like 
what  their  fathers  were  at  luncheon  time, 
and  with  the  city  only  a  few  miles  distant, 
they  soon  "learn  the  ropes,"  as  they  say,  and 
find  their  pleasures. 

In  justice  to  the  suburban  community  it 
must  be  said  that  in  many  places  the  need 
for  more  attention  to  play  and  amusement 
is  being  felt  and  in  a  large  number  of  subur- 
ban towns  splendid  playgrounds  are  be- 
ing provided,  churches  are  building  parish 
houses,  money  is  being  appropriated  and  a 
play  program  worked  out,  adopted  and 
made  effective. 

If  such  a  picture  of  the  suburban  com- 

189] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

munity,  the  village  and  small  town  is  not 
over  drawn,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  city? 
The  dangers  here  are  two-fold:  that  from 
the  wrong  sort  of  amusement,  and  that  from 
a  lack  of  supervision  of  the  people's  play. 
It  is  an  easy  thing  to  lose  yourself  in  the 
city.  Nobody  knows  you  and  few  people 
care  anything  about  you.  You  can  do  as 
you  please  and  no  one  is  the  wiser.  The 
city  is  made  up  of  newcomers.  People  come 
and  people  go.  The  city  serves  all  and  each 
finds  the  things  which  are  congenial  to  him 
and  his  kind.  The  larger  cities  have  a 
larger  percentage  of  growth  in  the  major- 
ity of  cases  than  the  smaller  cities,  because 
people  love  the  crowd  and  enjoy  losing 
themselves  in  the  midst  of  it.  The  city 
makes  communication  between  individuals 
easy,  but  at  the  same  time  it  lessens  the 
necessity  for  such  communication.  While 
there  are  more  people  to  be  known  there 
are  fewer  that  can  be  known.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  in  one  section  of  Chicago  about 
twelve  thousand  students  rent  rooms  every 

[90] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

autumn  and  begin  their  studies  in  the  med- 
ical and  dental  colleges  and  other  schools. 
In  the  same  neighborhood  thousands  of 
clerks,  stenographers,  book-keepers  and 
other  young  people  who  have  just  come  to 
the  city  find  their  homes.  Thousands  of 
young  married  people  each  year  begin 
house-keeping  in  this  district.  It  is  within 
walking  distance  of  the  business  center; 
only  a  few  blocks  from  the  lake  and  is 
a  most  desirable  location  for  people  of 
limited  means.  Large  numbers  of  these 
people  get  their  meals  at  restaurants. 
The  dance  hall,  the  theatre  and  the  mov- 
ing picture  shows  in  the  neighborhood  are 
crowded  night  after  night.  One  young 
man  at  a  dance  confided  to  a  casual  friend 
that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  attending  the 
dance  hall  three  nights  a  week  in  the  hope 
of  getting  acquainted  with  some  girl,  so  that 
he  might  have  "some  one  to  run  around 
with."  He  lived  in  a  rooming  house,  took 
his  meals  at  an  adjacent  restaurant  and 
spent  his  leisure  time  reading,  dropping  into 

[91] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

an  occasional  picture  show,  until  he  hap- 
pened to  hear  of  this  dance  hall,  where,  he 
understood,  "the  bunch  of  girls  who  came 
were  most  of  them  straight."  Jane  Addams 
speaking  of  these  places  says:  "One  of  the 
most  pathetic  sights  in  the  public  dance  halls 
of  Chicago  is  the  number  of  young  men, 
obviously  honest  young  fellows  from  the 
country,  who  stand  about  vainly  hoping  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  some  'nice  girl.' 
They  look  eagerly  up  and  down  the  rows 
of  girls,  many  of  whom  are  drawn  to  the 
hall  by  the  same  keen  desire  for  pleasure 
and  wholesome  intercourse  which  the  lonely 
young  men  themselves  feel."  The  difficulty 
in  the  situation  is  that  mingled  with  the 
crowd  of  "decent  young  fellows"  are  boys 
and  men  who  have  come  here  for  the  worst 
possible  reasons,  and  among  the  girls,  the 
majority  of  whom  are  honest  and  are  simply 
seeking  and  finding  pleasure,  there  are  num- 
bers of  the  bad  sort.  It  is  these  who  make 
the  dance  hall  a  positive  danger  to  both  boys 
and  girls.    The  cities  of  our  coimtry  spend 

[92  1 


DANGERS   AND   DISASTERS 

a  hundred  times  as  much  for  juvenile  re- 
form as  they  do  for  providing  recreational 
opportunities. 

The  boy's  love  of  adventure  leads  him  into 
trouble.  It  has  been  shown  that  most  of  the 
crimes  for  which  boys  are  arrested  may  be 
traced  to  this  spirit  which  prompts  them  to 
seek  excitement.  The  boy  who  plays  truant 
from  school  often  finds  that  he  does  not 
know  what  to  do  with  his  time.  He  is 
simply  defying  custom  and  is  pitting  his 
wits  against  those  of  the  truant  officer. 
Jumping  on  and  off  trains  and  street  cars, 
flagging  trains,  beating  his  way  from  one 
place  to  another  on  trains,  these  things  the 
boy  attempts  just  for  the  fun  of  the  doing 
and  the  going  and  to  see  if  he  can  do  them 
without  being  caught.  Jane  Addams  shows 
how  this  spirit  runs  through  the  whole 
gamut  of  youthful  exploits.  She  thinks  that 
the  love  of  excitement  and  the  desire  to  get 
rid  of  the  humdrum  experiences  of  life  in- 
duce boys  to  experiment  with  drinks  and 
drugs.     The  difficulty  of  securing  cocaine, 

[98] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

the  subterfuges  to  which  the  seller  has  to 
resort  to  deliver  the  goods,  the  system  of  sig- 
nals, the  hiding  places,  the  method  of  spend- 
ing the  money,  all  of  these  appeal  to  the 
boy's  love  of  adventure.  When  a  person 
becomes  addicted  to  the  use  of  a  drug  its 
demands  are  so  insistent  and  it  so  enslaves 
the  will  that  the  victim  will  go  to  any  lengths 
to  get  it.  An  investigation  made  by  resi- 
dents of  Hull  House  regarding  the  condition 
of  a  gang  of  boys  who  lived  in  a  neighboring 
street  revealed  the  following:  there  were 
eight  of  them,  the  oldest  being  seventeen 
years  of  age,  the  youngest  thirteen.  They 
all  lived  vagrant  lives.  It  was  found  that 
cocaine  had  one  day  been  offered  to  them 
by  a  colored  man  who  was  acting  as  agent 
for  a  drug  store.  He  urged  them  to  try  it. 
In  three  of  four  months  they  became  hope- 
lessly addicted  to  its  use,  and  at  the  end  of 
six  months,  when  they  were  discovered  by 
their  Hull  House  friends,  they  were  found 
to  be  in  a  sad  state  physically,  mentally  and 
morally.     Not  one  of  them  was  going  to 

[94] 


DANGERS    AND    DISASTERS 

school  or  working.  They  stole,  pawned  their 
clothes,  or  did  any  other  desperate  thing  in 
order  to  "get  the  dope."  They  had  to  have 
it.  It  was  the  spirit  of  adventure,  which 
under  proper  conditions  might  have  ex- 
pressed itself  in  normal  play,  that  brought 
their  downfall. 

In  every  great  city  there  are  hundreds  of 
gangs  of  boys,  the  total  membership  of 
which  would  run  into  the  thousands.  Most 
of  the  members  of  these  gangs  are  from  ten 
to  eighteen  years  of  age.  Many  of  the  mem- 
bers sooner  or  later  come  into  clash  with  the 
police  and  find  their  way  into  the  juvenile 
court.  Most  people  know  about  the  gangs 
but  they  fail  to  recognize  the  spirit  which  is 
operating  them,  and  either  attempt  to  break 
them  up  or  to  restrict  their  operations,  in- 
stead of  trying  to  utilize  the  spirit  which 
brings  the  boys  together  and  direct  it  into 
proper  channels.  One  illustration  out  of 
many  may  be  given :  Webb  was  a  young  and 
desperate  criminal  in  Chicago.  He  and  his 
companions  killed  a  policeman  and  carried 

[95] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

on  a  regular  campaign  of  robbery,  terror- 
ism and  murder.  When  he  was  arrested  his 
mother  could  not  believe  that  her  boy  was 
the  one  for  whom  the  whole  police  force 
of  the  city  had  been  searching.  He  was  the 
product  of  a  Chicago  gang.  He,  with  other 
boys,  had  met  in  alleys,  in  barns  or  in  holes 
that  they  dug  in  the  sand  banks  near  the 
city.  Out  of  the  innocent  club  with  which 
they  started  they  developed  into  criminals. 
It  has  been  found  that  the  most  danger- 
ous period  for  a  boy  is  the  time  when  he  is 
approaching  twelve  years  of  age.  Up  to 
that  time  he  plays  in  the  house;  his  hours 
can  be  made  interesting  and  his  mind  occu- 
pied. At  about  the  age  of  twelve  his  tastes 
change;  he  needs  different  kinds  of  amuse- 
ments and  better  opportunities  for  play.  In 
the  congested  districts  of  a  city  he  cannot 
find  what  he  needs.  Outside  of  his  home 
is  a  vacant  lot,  an  alley,  a  deserted  shop  or 
ware-house  and  here  he  meets  others  like 
himself.  Coming  together,  the  desire  to 
organize  expresses  itself,  and  the  gang  be- 

[96] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

comes  a  compact  body,  ready  for  adventure. 
What  shall  they  do?  The  boys  of  the  newly 
formed  club  thrown  on  their  own  resources 
for  play  let  their  imaginations  run  wild  and 
the  first  opportunity  that  presents  itself  for 
fun  is  eagerly  followed  up.  They  plan 
expeditions  and  start  out  for  some  wonder- 
ful adventure.  Here  is  an  imoccupied  house ; 
its  windows  make  a  good  target  for  stones; 
its  doors  can  be  broken  down ;  its  lead  pipes 
and  trimmings  find  a  ready  sale  at  the  junk 
shop  which  one  of  the  members  of  the  gang 
knows  about  on  the  next  block;  the  sale  of 
this  junk  gives  them  ready  money  and  they 
begin  hunting  for  unoccupied  houses  for  the 
purpose  of  raiding  them.  With  this  money 
they  can  buy  cigarettes  and  learn  to  smoke. 
They  have  the  means  now  so  that  they  can 
"shoot  craps,"  and  so  the  spirit  of  the  gang 
expresses  itself  and  the  boys  are  led  on  from 
one  step  to  another,  often  in  conflict  with  the 
law.  The  pohceman  becomes  the  deadly 
enemy  of  the  gang  and  its  pranks.  A  mem- 
ber of  one  of  these  gangs  who  arrives  at  the 

197] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

age  of  twenty  without  becoming  a  hardened 
criminal  is  fortunate  indeed.  The  gang  may 
be  broken  up  by  the  police,  but  the  spirit 
which  creates  the  gang  must  be  considered 
by  others  than  the  police.  The  community 
is  responsible  and  the  church  is  responsible 
for  the  education  of  the  community  spirit  so 
that  men  and  women  will  learn  that  it  is  not 
a  bad  thing  for  boys  to  have  their  clubs.  In 
fact  organization  among  them  is  advisable, 
and  boys  and  girls  should  be  encouraged  in 
forming  their  clubs.  The  thing  to  do  is  to 
keep  close  watch  of  the  club,  provide  the 
right  kind  of  supervision  for  it  and  see  that 
the  spirit  of  the  young  people  expresses 
itself  along  normal  lines.  If  you  give  ade- 
quate opportunities  for  play  the  children  of 
the  street  will  learn  to  use  their  brains  and 
will  expend  the  same  amount  of  energy 
along  helpful  constructive  lines  as  they  are 
now  giving  to  the  harmful  adventures  of  the 
gang.  The  danger  of  imorganized  play  in 
the  city  streets  is  great,  and  the  disasters 
from  misdirected  play  can  scarcely  be  exag- 

[98] 


DANGERS    AND    DISASTERS 

gerated.  The  desperate  car-barn  bandits  of 
Chicago  robbed  and  murdered  just  for  the 
excitement  of  the  thing.  Their  crimes  were 
the  result  of  their  misdirected  play.  During 
the  year  1913  there  were  9,019  children  ar- 
raigned in  the  County  Children's  Court  of 
New  York.  The  report  of  this  court  during 
this  period,  with  its  charts  and  statistical 
tables,  shows  the  principal  reasons  why  boys 
and  girls  go  wrong;  25  per  cent,  were 
brought  into  court  for  trifling  offenses;  38 
per  cent,  because  of  improper  guardianship. 
This  leaves  only  37  per  cent,  who  were 
charged  with  really  serious  offenses.  It  was 
the  spirit  of  adventure  ruled  by  a  gang  that 
made  most  of  these  juvenile  dehnquents. 
Over  54s  per  cent,  of  the  children  were  shown 
to  have  done  the  thing  that  brought  them 
into  conflict  with  the  law  through  their 
associations.  The  residential  distribution 
shows  that  much  of  the  trouble  was  due  to 
bad  housing  and  community  conditions. 
Another  point  of  interest  made  clear  by  this 
report  is  that  the  years  between  thirteen  and 

199] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

fifteen  are  the  years  when  most  of  the  boys 
and  girls  get  into  trouble. 

The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  of 
Chicago  made  a  study  of  the  conditions  of 
the  colored  people  of  that  city  and  in  their 
report  stated  that  there  are  and  have  been 
in  the  county  jail  a  disproportionate  num- 
ber of  colored  boys  and  young  men  as  com- 
pared with  the  number  of  white  boys  and 
men.  The  colored  people  of  Chicago  ap- 
proximate only  one-fortieth  of  the  entire 
population,  and  yet  one-eight  of  the  boys 
and  young  men  and  nearly  one-third  of  the 
girls  and  young  women  who  are  confined  in 
the  county  jail  are  found  to  be  negroes. 
While  the  morahty  of  every  young  person 
is  closely  bound  up  with  that  of  his  family 
and  his  immediate  environment,  this  is  espe- 
cially true  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  col- 
ored families,  who,  finding  the  door  of  op- 
portunity continually  shut  in  their  faces,  are 
more  easily  forced  back  into  their  early 
environments  however  vicious  and  disas- 
trous to  morals  they  may  be.     In  a  study 

[100] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

of  one  hundred  colored  families  it  was  found 
that  eighty-six  of  the  mothers  went  out  to 
work.  This  left  no  adequate  provision  for 
the  care  of  the  children  during  the  day. 
The  older  children  were  kept  at  home  from 
school  to  care  for  the  younger  ones  and  in 
many  cases  the  whole  family  was  locked  out 
of  the  house  to  play  in  the  street  until  the 
mother  returned  in  the  evening.  ISTaturally 
these  children,  being  denied  better  oppor- 
tunities, are  soon  contaminated  by  the  worst 
influences  of  the  street.  The  doors  to  the 
best  forms  of  recreation  and  play  are  closed 
to  the  members  of  this  race.  The  love  of 
music  so  strong  among  the  colored  people 
finds  opportunity  for  satisfaction  only  in  the 
cheaper  vaudeville  shows,  amusement  parks 
and  the  lowest  type  of  theaters.  That  which 
should  be  the  greatest  source  of  inspiration 
tends  to  pull  them  down,  for  their  love  of 
pleasure,  lacking  innocent  expression,  draws 
many  of  them  to  the  vice  district.  An 
effort  was  made  by  some  worthy  colored 
people  on  the  south  side  of  the  city  to  estab- 

[101] 


THE  CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

lish  a  modern  dance  hall.  The  white  people 
of  the  district,  assuming  that  it  would  be 
an  objectionable  place,  successfully  opposed 
it  as  a  public  nuisance  and  this  effort  toward 
better  recreational  facilities  was  abandoned. 
There  is  no  bathing  beach  in  the  city  where 
the  colored  children  can  enjoy  the  waters 
of  Lake  Michigan.  The  white  children  do 
not  welcome  them  at  their  beaches.  The 
report  tells  of  a  little  colored  boy  who  at- 
tempted to  bathe  at  the  Thirty-ninth  Street 
beach  and  was  mobbed  and  treated  so 
roughly  that  the  police  had  to  send  in  a  riot 
call.  The  commercial  amusements  in  the 
neighborhoods  where  the  colored  people  live 
are  of  the  lowest  type,  including  pool  rooms, 
saloons  and  disreputable  dance  halls.  In 
concluding  this  report  the  investigators  state 
that  there  are  two  reasons  for  the  large  pro- 
portion of  colored  boys  in  the  county  jail: 
bad  conditions  under  which  the  people  live, 
and  the  lack  of  opportunity  for  regular 
organized  normal  play. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Seattle  Juve- 

[102] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

nile  Court  for  1912,  in  discussing  the  causes 
of  juvenile  delinquency,  states:  "The  first 
cause  was  not  the  fault  of  the  child,  but 
more  likely  that  of  the  city  or  society  in 
general  for  failing  to  properly  supervise  and 
assist  these  helpless  children,  carelessly  per- 
mitting them  to  drift  into  bad  environments 
and  thus  become  delinquents,  or  absolute 
dependents."  Judge  Lindsay  of  Denver 
thinks  it  is  impossible  to  keep  street  boys 
from  shooting  craps.  "It  is  as  natural  for 
them  to  gamble  as  for  other  boys  to  play 
marbles."  This  is  obviously  true  because 
this  game  is  the  easiest  to  learn  and  the  one 
that  can  be  played  in  the  smallest  space 
and  with  the  least  equipment.  Given  the 
opportunity  and  the  privilege  of  playing 
legitimate  games  craps  and  other  gambling 
devices  would  lose  much  of  their  attraction. 
The  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Commis- 
sion on  Immigration  deals  extensively  with 
the  question  of  the  people's  play  and  its 
relation  to  immorality.  This  Commission 
reports  the  dangerous  situation  which  faces 

1108] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

the  men  and  women  who  are  forced  to  live 
in  crowded  conditions,  who  work  hard  for 
long  hours  and  who  have  no  opportunity  for 
play.  It  tells  of  a  Lithuanian  girl  who  was 
eighteen  years  of  age  when  she  arrived  in 
this  country.  She  worked  for  the  first  two 
months  in  a  stocking  factory  for  two  dollars 
per  week  and  for  the  next  three  years 
was  in  a  brush  factory  earning  seven  dol- 
lars a  week.  She  has  lived  in  three  dif- 
ferent places  since  coming  to  this  country. 
In  the  first  place  there  were  five  rooms  and 
in  them  a  family  of  four,  and  in  addition 
three  men  and  two  women  lodgers.  In  the 
second  place  there  were  four  rooms,  three 
in  the  family  and  with  them  two  men  and 
two  women  lodgers.  At  the  time  the  report 
was  made  she  was  living  in  a  tenement  of 
five  rooms  with  a  family  of  three  who  have 
three  men  and  one  woman  lodger.  "A 
Polish  girl  of  nineteen,  who  has  been  in 
America  two  years  working  in  a  restaurant 
in  Boston,  lodges  in  an  apartment  of  four 
rooms  where  the  Polish  man  and  his  wife 

[104] 


DANGERS    AND    DISASTERS 

have  four  men  and  nine  girl  lodgers.  She 
came  from  Europe  alone  expecting  to  be 
with  her  father,  but  he  had  gone  to  Canada 
and  she  was  obliged  to  find  a  lodging  place 
and  begin  work  immediately.  She  has  an 
illegitimate  child  by  a  man  who  was  a 
lodger  in  the  house  and  who  came  from 
the  same  village  in  Poland."  So  many 
incidents  of  this  kind  are  quoted  in  the 
report  as  to  make  it  evident  that  the  prob- 
lems of  recreation  and  housing  are  closely 
bound  together.  The  enforcement  of  hous- 
ing regulations  will  reduce  the  overcrowd- 
ing and  make  conditions  better,  but  even 
such  improvements  will  still  leave  the  im- 
migrant boy  and  girl  open  to  temptations 
and  dangers  to  which  no  young  person 
should  be  exposed.  The  facts  brought  to 
light  by  this  report  prove  that  the  lack  of 
proper  recreation  and  provision  for  social 
intercourse  tend  to  result  in  immorality 
among  young  men  and  women  of  all  nation- 
alities. The  danger  is  especially  serious 
among  non-family  groups  of  young  foreign 

1 105  J 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

men  and  women  whose  needs  an  American 
community  cannot  fully  appreciate.  The 
freedom  from  old  forms  of  social  control 
without  proper  social  life  causes  much  delin- 
quency among  such  men  and  women.  In 
studying  the  problem  of  the  illegitimate 
child  an  eminent  authority  says:  "It  is  felt 
that  the  failure  of  the  ethical  standards  of 
these  unfortunates  is  due  in  large  measure 
to  society  itself.  Society  has  not  seen  to  it 
that  adequate  training  in  sex  hygiene  and 
sex  morality  be  insisted  upon  as  a  public 
obligation,  neither  has  society  provided  for 
the  social  recreation  of  our  young  people 
amid  conditions  conducive  to  development 
and  conservation  of  the  best  manhood  and 
womanhood." 

Eighty-five  public  dances  given  in  forty- 
seven  dance  halls  in  Manhattan,  New  York, 
were  investigated  by  the  agents  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Social  Hygiene  from  January  24th 
to  June  24th,  1912.  Ninety-six  reports 
were  made  of  conditions  in  these  halls  by 
three  investigators.     Only  five  out  of  sev- 

[106]  I 


DANGERS    AND    DISASTERS 

enty-five  dances  seen  during  this  time  were 
characterized  as  decent;  eleven  were  more 
or  less  objectionable;  fifty-five  were  wholly 
objectionable;  at  all  the  dances  but  three 
intoxicating  liquors  were  sold;  at  sixty-one 
minors  were  present,  and  the  investigators 
conclude  that  excepting  those  at  two  halls, 
the  attendants  were  mostly  disreputable. 
What  was  shown  to  be  true  in  New  York 
is  proportionately  true  elsewhere.  The  re- 
port of  the  Chicago  Vice  Commission  rec- 
ommends that  municipal  dance  halls  should 
be  established  and  that  they  should  be  prop- 
erly policed  and  supervised;  that  city  ordi- 
nances regarding  moving  picture  shows 
should  be  revised  so  as  to  provide  for  the 
presentation  of  good  pictures  in  well  lighted 
halls;  that  the  school  yards  be  opened  for 
children  to  play,  and  always  under  careful 
supervision ;  that  the  parks  should  be  made 
more  available  and  safer  for  the  people; 
that  the  churches  should  endeavor  to  coun- 
teract evil  influences  in  the  community  by 
opening  buildings  attached  to  churches  for 

[107] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

social  centers  during  week-day  evenings; 
and  that  better  supervision  be  given  both  by 
pubHc  officials  and  parents  of  children  and 
young  people  in  their  play. 

To  sum  up  then,  play  is  a  natural  instinct. 
The  nature  of  the  individual  demands  play. 
Many  people  are  living  under  new  condi- 
tions and  facing  new  problems.  The  oppor- 
tunities to  play  are  not  adequate.  Decent 
amusements  being  denied,  the  people  turn 
to  those  agencies  that  provide  the  opportu- 
nities they  are  seeking,  and  in  using  these 
facilities  they  are  faced  with  grave  dangers 
that  often  result  in  disaster.  In  our  short- 
sightedness we  have  condemned  play.  The 
danger  does  not  lie  in  the  play  itself,  but 
in  the  conditions  and  surroundings  under 
which  people  are  forced  to  play. 


[108] 


V 

DANCING,   CARD  PLAYING, 
THEATER   GOING 


CHAPTER   V 

DANCING,  CARD  PLAYING, 
THEATER  GOING 

Sptjrgeon  preached  a  direct  sermon  to  the 
careless  in  his  day,  and  in  the  course  of  it 
said:  "Call  your  sins  sins,  but  do  not  call 
them  pleasures,  and  learn  that  the  pleasures 
of  sin,  which  are  but  for  a  season,  are  but 
Satan's  bait  by  which  he  takes  souls  upon 
his  hook  to  their  destruction.  You  shall  lose 
no  pleasure  but  that  which  is  unhealthy, 
unfit  for  your  soul,  unsatisfactory  in  itself 
and  unworthy  of  your  nature."  This  is  good 
advice  and  as  worthy  of  being  heeded  in  oin* 
day  as  it  was  in  the  day  it  was  preached. 
The  question  is,  what  constitutes  sinful 
pleasures?  Many  persons  will  answer,  danc- 
ing, card  playing  and  theater  going.  Other 
things  are  included  sometimes ;  for  instance, 
in  certain  advice  given  to  young  Christians 
we  find  among  the  forbidden  things,  "play- 
l"il 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

ing  at  games  of  chance,  attending  theaters, 
horse  races,  circuses,  dancing  parties,  or  pat- 
ronizing dancing  schools  or  taking  part  in 
such  other  amusements  as  are  obviously  mis- 
leading or  of  questionable  moral  tendency." 
We  have  quibbled  a  great  deal  about  this 
question.  Those  who  favor  these  forms  of 
amusement  are  often  just  as  intolerant  of 
any  one  who  disagrees  with  them  as  the 
strictest,  most  Puritanical  church  members. 
Others  who  have  been  able  to  see  both  sides 
of  the  question  thought  that  the  three  forms 
of  amusement  mentioned  above  were  espe- 
cially evil,  and  have  allowed  substitutes 
which  have  engrossed  time  and  have  proven 
to  be  much  like  the  forbidden  forms  of 
amusement.  Certain  social  games  that  are 
played  by  young  people  who  would  not 
dance  are  really  imitations  of  the  dance. 
In  a  church  where  frequent  sermons  were 
preached  against  dancing,  the  young  people 
played  "Miller"  to  the  shouts  of  "Happy 
is  the  miller  who  lives  by  the  mill;  the  mill 
goes  round  with  a  right  good  will."     In 

[112] 


DANCING,   CARDS,   THEATER 

another  church  the  rule  against  cards  was 
strictly  enforced,  but  during  three  consec- 
utive winters  practically  one-half  the  mem- 
bers in  the  church  belonged  to  one  or  the 
other  of  half  a  dozen  flinch  clubs,  and  this 
game,  which  is  most  like  the  old  card  games 
of  any  that  has  been  invented,  was  played 
with  a  zeal  and  devotion  that  would  put  to 
shame  the  average  whist  player  I  When  a 
missionary  exhibit  was  given  in  one  of  our 
western  cities,  a  drama  covering  a  portion 
of  the  life  of  David  Livingstone  was  to  be 
played  at  a  local  theater  as  a  part  of  the 
affair.  A  debate  took  place  among  church 
people  as  to  the  propriety  of  supporting 
any  thing  that  apparently  endorsed  the  the- 
ater. The  play  was  given  but  it  was  known 
as  a  "missionary  pageant."  Most  of  our 
judgments  as  to  what  is  right  and  what  is 
wrong  are  developed  from  small  premises. 
There  is  no  reason  why  the  grand  march 
should  be  admitted  and  the  dance  itself  con- 
demned; or  why  a  drama  under  the  name 
of  pageant  should  be  recognized  as  morally 

1118] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

allowable  and  under  the  name  of  play  be 
condemned.  That  these  things  are  so  forces 
us  to  the  conviction  that  what  we  need  more 
than  any  thing  else  is  a  serious  study  of 
these  most  popular  forms  of  amusement  in 
order  to  determine,  if  possible,  what  is  good 
and  what  is  bad. 

The  love  of  dancing  is  natural  to  almost 
every  individual.  It  is  the  one  art  that 
everybody  can  learn  and  can  practice  with 
more  or  less  success.  Nearly  every  art  to- 
day has  developed  out  of  the  dance  in  one 
or  another  of  its  forms.  Hence  it  has  been 
called  the  "mother  of  arts." 

The  inherent  love  of  rhythm  is  the  fun- 
damental element  in  dancing.  This  ex- 
presses itself  in  the  unconscious  movements 
of  children.  A  little  girl  when  she  is  happy 
will  hop  up  and  down  or  skip  about  in 
a  circle  clapping  her  hands,  tossing  her 
head,  all  in  perfect  rhythm.  When  a  person 
is  ill  he  loses  the  rhythm  of  life.  As  long 
as  it  can  be  maintained  we  are  comfortable 
and  happy.    In  our  formal  dances  we  have 

[114] 


THE   WEAVING   DANCE 


Conrtetr  of  A.  T.  Bolaen 

THE  FISHERMAN  AND  BIS  WIFE 
Presented  at  the  Louisville,  Kansas,  Convocation 


DANCING,   CARDS,   THEATER 

amplified  the  simple  movements  of  child- 
hood, repeating  them  in  definite  form  of 
rotation,  with  definite  changes  and  varia- 
tions, often  with  a  childlike  expression  of 
joy.  G.  Stanley  Hall  says  that  the  cultiva- 
tion of  an  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  has 
an  effect  on  the  working  power  of  the  brain, 
and  influences  its  output  to  a  degree  that  is 
little  realized.  He  thinks  that  the  dance 
develops  the  sense  of  the  beautiful  better 
than  any  other  form  of  exercise  or  play. 
"I  would  have  dancing  taught  in  every 
school,"  he  says,  "even  if  the  school  had  to 
be  opened  evenings  for  that  purpose.  The 
dances  chosen  should  be  simply  rhythmic, 
allowing  great  freedom,  such  as  the  Morris 
dances  now  being  revived;  and  sometimes 
songs  and  dancing.  We  should  also  teach 
the  old  folk  and  national  dances  after  a  very 
careful  selection  from  a  wide  repertoire. 
The  object  aimed  at  should  be  the  cultiva- 
tion primarily  of  the  sense  of  rhythm ;  next 
the  ease  and  economy  of  motion,  for  grace 
is  only  the  natural  term  for  ease.    Dancing 

[115] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

originated  in  the  religious  instincts,  and  was 
a  form  of  religious  service ;  and  is  still  capa- 
ble of  teaching  awe,  reverence,  worship.  The 
love  of  God  is  just  as  capable  of  motor 
expression  as  is  romantic  love." 

Dancing  is  a  very  ancient  practice,  but 
the  older  forms  of  the  dance  were  altogether 
different  from  the  modern ;  in  fact,  the  style 
of  dancing  changes  with  each  generation. 
The  Jews,  as  well  as  other  nations,  had  their 
sacred  dances  which  were  performed  at  holi- 
day seasons  and  on  solemn  occasions.  Danc- 
ing is  defined  as  "an  expression  of  the  feel- 
ings by  movements  of  the  body  more  or  less 
controlled  by  the  sense  of  rhythm."  Even 
before  it  became  an  art  it  was  practiced. 
Millar,  writing  in  Hasting's  Bible  Diction- 
ary, says  that  the  ancient  dance  had  three 
forms  of  development  in  the  practice  of  the 
ancient  nations:  first,  its  rudest  and  most 
studied  form,  the  outward  expression  of 
exuberant  feeling;  second,  the  pantomime 
dance ;  and  third,  the  dance  pure  and  simple, 
the  exhibition  of  the  poetry  of  motion,  of 

[116] 


DANCING,    CARDS,   THEATER 

all  the  grace  of  attitude  and  all  the  flexibil- 
ity of  which  it  is  possible.  Social  dancing 
as  we  now  understand  it  was  almost  un- 
known in  ancient  times.  In  the  Bible  the 
references  to  dancing  lead  us  to  conclude 
that  any  occasion  might  be  celebrated  with 
a  dance — the  Prodigal's  return ;  the  success 
of  the  armies;  the  commemoration  of  some 
great  event  in  the  national  history  ;  the  wel- 
coming of  a  hero  as  he  comes  in  triumph 
from  a  battle;  the  reception  of  a  stranger 
into  the  tribe.  The  Hebrew  religion  was 
especially  a  joyful  religion,  and  the  dance 
had  its  place  and  significance  among  the 
people.  On  the  occasion  of  the  passage  of 
the  Red  Sea,  Miriam,  the  sister  of  Moses, 
"took  a  timbrel  in  her  hand;  and  all  the 
women  went  out  after  her  with  timbrels  and 
with  dancing."  With  some  variation  this 
same  form  of  dancing  is  common  in  oriental 
countries  today.  Among  primitive  people 
the  dance  is  connected  with  the  ceremonials 
of  the  tribes.  Among  the  Indians  there  is 
the  snake  dance,  the  medicine  dance,  the 

[117] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

witch  dance  and  various  other  dances,  each 
of  which  has  a  definite  purpose  in  propiti- 
ating the  spirits  of  the  tribe  and  bring- 
ing prosperity  upon  the  people.  In  most 
of  the  ancient  dancing  the  sexes  danced 
separately.  This  was  especially  true  among 
the  Jews. 

The  dance  is  a  favorite  amusement  with 
Americans.  Just  at  present  it  is  in  vogue 
to  a  tremendous  extent.  The  dance  halls  are 
crowded;  during  the  summer  season  the 
bathers  dance  on  the  beach;  it  forms  the 
diversion  between  the  courses  of  the  meals 
in  many  popular  restaurants.  The  after- 
noon dance  is  a  common  feature  offered 
the  patrons  of  the  principal  hotels  in  our 
larger  cities.  Dancing  schools  and  acade- 
mies are  doing  the  best  business  in  their 
history. 

Commercialism  has  seen  its  opportunity, 
and  in  every  city  young  men  and  women  are 
being  exploited  to  their  ruin  because  it  is 
profitable  for  a  group  of  men  to  furnish  the 
opportunity  for  dancing,  and  because  the 

[118] 


DANCING,   CAUDS,   THEATER 

good  people  of  the  community  have  with- 
held their  guiding  hand  and  the  protecting 
influence  so  sorely  needed. 

The  experience  in  Kansas  City,  in  Cleve- 
land and  other  cities  where  attempts  have 
been  made  to  regulate  the  public  dance  halls, 
as  well  as  the  experiments  that  have  been 
tried  in  Milwaukee  and  Chicago  in  establish- 
ing municipal  dance  halls,  have  shown  how 
very  difficult  it  is  to  regulate  the  dance.  At 
the  same  time  no  one  need  doubt  that  it  can 
be  done.  We  must  think  clearly  and  act 
wisely.  To  do  this  will  mean  that  we  will 
have  to  discriminate  between  dancing  itself 
and  the  evils  that  grow  out  of  it.  Dancing 
has  been  called  "the  elixir  of  life."  It  is 
the  most  healthful  and  recreative  of  all 
plays.  Even  those  who  are  most  opposed 
to  dancing  on  moral  grounds  are  willing  to 
admit  its  value  as  an  exercise.  The  favorite 
argument  of  such  people  is  that  if  we  could 
separate  the  sexes  and  have  a  dance  hall  for 
men  and  one  for  women,  they  would  have 
no  objection  to  the  dance,  and  would  see  in 

1119] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

it  only  good.  The  modern  dances  are  espe- 
cially valuable  as  forms  of  exercise,  for  they 
bring  into  action  every  muscle  of  the  body. 
Men  and  women  who  live  lazy  lives  with 
very  little  exercise  are  urged  by  their  physi- 
cians to  find  something  that  will  interest 
them,  and  then  devote  themselves  strenu- 
ously to  it.  Such  people  formerly  took 
their  exercise  with  dumb-bells  and  indian- 
clubs,  or  calisthenics.  The  profit  from  these 
exercises  was  limited  for  the  reason  that 
they  were  carried  out  in  a  perfunctory  way, 
or  because,  having  to  perform  the  exercises 
alone  and  for  the  sake  of  their  health,  the 
morbid  introspection  thus  produced  caused 
fully  as  much  evil  as  the  exercise  did  good. 
A  noted  physician  says  that  the  modern 
dance  offers  everything  for  which  the  old 
physicians  recommended  the  use  of  dumb- 
bells. In  dancing  the  muscles  are  exercised, 
and  through  the  exhilaration  of  the  music 
and  the  joy  of  companionship  the  health 
values  are  greatly  increased. 

The  latest  dances  have  a  doubtful  repu- 

[120] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

tation,  largely  because  of  the  places  and 
conditions  where  they  first  became  popular, 
and  because,  as  they  are  difficult  to  learn, 
their  bad  features  rather  than  their  best  are 
made  prominent.  The  great  danger  in  danc- 
ing arises  from  the  fact  that  with  the  dance 
there  is  the  sex  appeal.  These  new  forms  of 
the  dance  allow  greater  liberty,  and  as  ordi- 
narily danced  are  not  so  artistic  as  their  older 
and  more  stately  relations.  To  make  the 
difference  clear  one  needs  only  to  witness  a 
crowd  dancing  the  tango  and  the  same 
crowd  dancing  a  quadrille.  Because  the  new 
dance  steps  are  more  difficult  to  learn,  only 
a  few  people  dance  correctly.  In  the  halls 
where  the  one-step  is  allowed,  hardly  a 
couple  really  dances ;  for  the  most  part,  they 
merely  slip,  slide,  dip  and  walk  about  over 
the  floor;  thus  is  given  a  greater  opportu- 
nity for  familiarity  than  was  possible  with 
the  older  dances,  and  this  familiarity  too 
often  degenerates  into  coarse  and  even  inde- 
cent conduct.  But  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  when  danced  under  proper  auspices  the 

[121] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

objectionable  features  of  these  dances  have 
been  dropped. 

There  is  no  inherent  reason  why  these 
steps,  if  properly  executed,  should  be  more 
dangerous  to  morals  than  the  old  forms  of 
dancing.  It  is  all  a  matter  of  education, 
training  and  regulation.  Go  to  any  well 
regulated  dance  hall,  one  for  instance,  in 
Minneapolis  or  Seattle,  where  possibly  a 
thousand  couples  may  be  dancing  at  once; 
study  the  eager  faces  of  the  young  people 
gathered  about  the  dance  floor ;  mingle  with 
the  crowd  and  get  acquainted  with  some  of 
these  boys  and  girls ;  note  them  in  the  midst 
of  the  dance ;  there  are  some  who  are  bad — 
no  one  doubts  this — and  some  who  have 
come  for  vile  purposes ;  but  the  observer  will 
find  that  the  vast  majority  of  these  eager 
young  people  have  come  to  this  place  of 
amusement  impelled  by  the  "spirit  of 
youth,"  because  of  their  love  of  music  and 
because  in  their  lives  there  is  so  little  oppor- 
tunity for  enjoyment.  As  they  dance  the 
new  dances  there  is  sho^ii  an  intelligent 

[122] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

respect  for  that  which  is  pure  and  good. 
Ask  almost  any  boy  who  is  in  the  habit  of 
attending  dances  in  a  certain  dance  hall,  and 
he  will  tell  you  the  names  of  and  point  out 
the  girls  of  questionable  morality,  if  there 
are  any  such  present,  and  at  the  same  time, 
with  all  the  vigor  of  his  nature,  he  will 
defend  against  insult  or  even  slur  the  girls 
whom  he  knows  to  be  pure  and  decent.  The 
pity  of  it  all  is  that  these  right  impulses  can- 
not be  conserved  and  made  of  service  in  the 
community  life. 

Dancing  is  the  expression  of  feeling  by 
means  of  motion.  The  moral  danger  lies 
in  the  thought  behind  the  motion  and  the 
conditions  under  which  feeling  is  given  ex- 
pression. In  determining  the  value  of  the 
dance  and  the  consequent  attitude  of  the 
church  regarding  it,  it  would  be  wise,  as 
Washington  Gladden  points  out,  to  consider 
a  few  general  principles : 

"Amusement  is  not  an  end,  but  the  means 
to  an  end.  When  it  begins  to  be  the  prin- 
cipal thing  for  which  one  lives,  or  when  in 

[123] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

pursuing  it  the  mental  powers  are  enfeebled 
and  the  bodily  health  impaired,  it  falls  under 
just  condemnation. 

"Amusements  which  consume  the  hours 
which  ought  to  be  sacred  to  sleep  are 
censurable. 

"Amusements  that  call  us  away  from 
work  that  we  are  bound  to  do  are  pernicious 
just  to  the  extent  to  which  they  cause  us  to 
be  neglectful  or  unfaithful. 

"Amusements  that  arouse  or  stimulate 
morbid  apprehensions  or  unlawful  passions, 
or  cause  us  to  be  restless  or  discontented  are 
to  be  avoided. 

"Any  indulgence  in  amusement  which  has 
a  tendency  to  weaken  our  respect  for  the 
great  interests  of  life  or  to  loosen  our 
hold  on  the  eternal  verities  of  the  spiritual 
realm  is  so  far  fraught  with  danger  to 
us." 

These  principles  apply  to  all  kinds  of  amuse- 
ments, and  by  them  we  can  judge  of  the 
moral  value  of  every  form  of  play.  The 
dance,  instead  of  being  the  great  evil  it  has 

[124] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

been  so  often  pictured,  might  easily  be  made 
an  adjunct  in  the  development  of  the  truest 
and  best  type  of  life.  This  means  that  the 
love  of  the  dance  must  be  given  a  chance  to 
express  itself  under  better  conditions  than 
are  now  possible  to  the  average  individual. 
In  such  books  as  "From  the  Ballroom  to 
Hell,"  and  in  a  great  deal  of  the  preaching 
"against  amusements"  that  fortunately  was 
more  common  a  few  years  ago  than  it  is 
today,  statements  such  as  these  were  made: 
"Of  the  500,000  lost  women  in  our  country, 
370,000  went  to  hell  through  the  dance."  It 
is  easy  to  see  that  such  statements  are  not 
based  upon  definitely  ascertained  facts,  and 
that  they  cast  a  heavy  reproach  upon  the 
moral  natures  of  young  people.  Undoubt- 
edly, the  dance  has  contributed  its  share  to 
the  destruction  of  thousands  of  young  men 
and  women,  but  it  was  the  dance  under  the 
worst  possible  conditions.  Christian  judg- 
ment will  demand  that  before  tabooing  the 
whole  subject  and  relegating  to  outer  dark- 
ness all  young  people  who  love  to  dance,  we 

[126] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

examine  the  motives,  take  stock  of  the  kind 
of  opportunities  for  dancing  and  then  make 
an  effort  to  meet  whatever  problem  is  raised 
by  our  study. 

It  is  argued  that  when  people  begin  to 
dance  everything  else  has  to  take  second 
place.  This  brings  up  another  question. 
Dancing  makes  its  strongest  appeal  at  a 
certain  stage  in  the  life  of  a  girl  and  boy. 
It  is  an  attack,  like  measles,  through  which 
every  youth  has  to  pass.  Older  people  dance 
and  enjoy  it;  to  them  dancing  is  simply 
an  incident,  while  many  boys  and  girls  in 
their  teens  make  dancing  the  end  of  life. 
How  are  we  to  inculcate  the  principles  that 
will  bring  about  the  proper  balance?  The 
common  way  has  been  to  say  "No,  don't 
dance."  The  young  people  have  gone  ahead 
and  danced  just  the  same,  and  having 
danced  against  the  wishes  of  the  church, 
they  have  lost  their  interest  in  the  church. 
"Dancing  and  piety  very  seldom  go  to- 
gether" is  a  common  saying,  but  it  was  piety 
that   first   sought   a   separation   from   the 

[126] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

dance.  When  the  more  serious  things  of  hfe 
come  in  and  other  interests  intrude  them- 
selves, dancing,  like  all  other  forms  of  play, 
naturally  falls  into  its  proper  place.  The 
attitude  for  the  church  to  take  in  regard 
to  dancing  is  one  of  sympathetic  interest ;  it 
should  speak  plainly  and  boldly  concerning 
its  dangers;  point  out  how  easily  this  inno- 
cent amusement  may  become  evil;  and  pro- 
claim the  proper  balance  between  work  and 
play.  The  church  ought  not  to  condemn 
dancing  as  such,  but  it  is  well  within  its 
province  to  show  that  there  are  more  than 
one  or  two  ways  for  the  people  to  play. 
When  this  has  been  done,  instead  of  hold- 
ing aloof,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  in 
every  place  to  see  that  good  laws  are  enacted 
regulating  the  dance  and  the  dance  halls; 
that  the  legislation  is  rigidly  enforced,  and 
that  the  public  dance  halls  and  other  places 
of  amusement  are  honestly  inspected  by 
order  of  the  municipal  government.  This 
done,  many  of  the  abuses  growing  out  of  the 
dance  will  be  eliminated.    Then  it  remains 

[127] 


THE   CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

for  the  church  to  help  provide  other  and 
more  wholesome  forms  of  play  which  will 
appeal  to  all  classes  of  the  people. 

Card  playing  is  another  form  of  popular 
amusement  that  has  come  definitely  under 
the  taboo  of  the  church.  The  fascination 
that  attaches  itself  to  this  form  of  play  is 
as  strong  as  civilization  is  wide,  and  the  num- 
ber and  styles  of  games  are  so  varied  that 
a  whole  literature  has  grown  up  around  the 
subject.  All  that  we  know  of  the  beginning 
of  cards  is  that  they  are  of  eastern  origin. 
In  the  Chinese  Empire  and  among  the 
Hindus  the  pictures  on  the  cards  had  a  sjth- 
bolic  significance,  and  it  is  probable  that 
among  the  latter  they  were  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  religious  worship.  Cards  were 
introduced  into  Europe  late  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  From  the  records  of  the 
royal  treasurer  it  appears  that  the  first  cards 
painted  in  France  were  invented  to  amuse 
the  King,  who  had  lost  his  reason  and  suf- 
fered from  prolonged  fits  of  melancholy. 
Early  in  the  fifteenth  century  card  making 

1128] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATEH 

became  an  important  industry  and  a  regular 
trade  in  Germany.  Cards  lend  themselves 
readily  to  gambling,  and  in  1420  the  vice  of 
gambling  had  so  developed  that  St.  Ber- 
nardin  preached  a  sermon  against  the  evil 
at  Bologna.  As  a  result  of  this  sermon  all 
his  hearers  gathered  their  cards  together  and 
burned  them  in  the  public  square.  Many 
attempts  through  the  years  have  been  made 
to  put  down  card  playing  by  the  strong  hand 
of  the  law,  exercised  at  various  times  and  for 
varying  interests. 

Card  playing  forms  a  simple  means  of 
amusing  people.  In  discussing  the  moral 
values  involved  in  cards,  it  is  necessary  to 
distinguish  between  the  game  played  for 
amusement  and  the  game  played  for  money. 
In  most  of  our  states  we  now  have  strict 
laws  against  gambling,  and  in  most  places 
these  laws  are  rather  rigidly  enforced. 
There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  effect 
of  card  playing  for  money,  and  this  means 
not  only  gambling  in  a  public  place,  but 
playing  for  a  prize   of  any  kind.     Just 

[129] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

SO  long  as  cards  are  played  for  a  prize, 
so  long  the  practice  will  be  positively  evil. 
The  size  and  value  of  the  stake  does  not  alter 
the  principle.  In  the  matter  of  card  playing 
just  for  pleasure,  if  any  one  finds  it  divert- 
ing, if  it  does  not  detract  from  more  impor- 
tant things,  if  it  rests  the  mind  after  hours 
of  serious  toil,  there  can  be  no  possible 
objection  to  it.  To  put  such  card  playing 
in  the  same  category  with  gambling  is  sheer 
nonsense.  Let  the  church  pronounce  un- 
qualifiedly against  gambling,  which  is  posi- 
tively vn-ong,  and  at  the  same  time  educate 
the  people  to  make  choice  between  the  things 
that  are  right  and  those  that  are  wrong. 
But  someone  says  that  if  you  teach  the  peo- 
ple to  play  cards,  unconsciously  you  create 
within  them  the  desire  to  gamble,  and  so 
gamblers  are  made  in  the  home.  We  are 
all  f  amiHar  with  the  lurid  story  of  the  man 
who  on  his  death  bed  charged  his  old,  feeble, 
grey-haired  mother  with  being  the  cause  of 
his  downfall,  simply  because  she  taught  him 
to  play  casino  when  he  was  a  boy.    This  has 

[130] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

been  told  over  and  over  again,  with  almost 
infinite  variations,  but  with  one  purpose. 
Such  an  argument  and  such  an  attitude  is 
as  belittling  to  our  conceptions  of  religion 
and  the  functions  of  the  church  as  it  is  a 
travesty  on  humanity.  If  it  were  worth 
while  to  argue  the  question,  we  could  match 
every  such  story  by  dozens  of  others  of  men 
who  had  not  been  allowed  to  play  cards,  but 
who,  just  as  soon  as  they  got  away  from 
home  influence,  learned  the  game,  and,  fas- 
cinated by  the  new  freedom,  went  to  the  bad. 
Cards  as  a  game  have  very  little  to  do  with 
the  moral  downfall  in  either  instance.  The 
church  should  so  educate  the  taste  that  the 
individual  will  unerringly  choose  the  best 
things,  not  the  worst.  Cardinal  Gibbons, 
discussing  this  question,  wisely  remarked 
that  in  "indulging  in  amusement,  much  de- 
pends upon  the  way  in  which  the  persons 
themselves  seek  recreation.  Diversion  which 
is  itself  harmless  may  have  such  associations 
as  to  produce  evil  results.  In  considering 
the  tendency  of  card  playing  for  good  or 

[181] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLES   PLAY 

evil,  three  points  should  be  noted:  the  sur- 
roundings of  the  player;  the  object  of  the 
game;  and  to  what  extent  the  player  in- 
dulges in  them." 

The  third  most  common  form  of  popular 
amusement  is  the  theater.  The  love  of  the 
drama  is  as  much  a  part  of  human  nature 
as  that  of  dancing,  and  primarily  it  appeals 
to  the  same  set  of  instincts.  The  presenta- 
tion of  a  story  by  means  of  pantomime,  or 
acting  together  with  the  spoken  dialogue,  is 
of  very  ancient  origin.  The  ruins  of  thea- 
ters have  been  found  in  every  ancient  Greek 
city.  Some  of  them  are  in  good  preserva- 
tion today,  and  others  have  been  partially 
restored.  The  Romans  also  had  their  the- 
aters. In  the  middle  ages  the  place  of  the 
theater  was  taken  by  the  cathedral,  and  such 
dramatic  performances  as  were  given  were 
in  the  nature  of  mysteries  connected  with 
religion  and  were  performed  in  the  cathe- 
drals. When  the  revival  of  classical  Htera- 
ture  brought  art  and  music  and  literature 
to  the  attention  of  the  people,  it  also  resur- 

[132] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

rected  the  theater,  and  really  gave  the  im- 
pulse that  produced  the  modern  play  and 
the  theater  as  we  know  it.  The  art  of  dra- 
matic representation  has  passed  through 
many  changes.  In  Greece  the  costumes 
and  the  acting  were  very  formal  and 
stereotyped,  and  consequently  artificial  to 
the  last  degree.  Dramatic  representation  in 
which  eloquence  and  "good  acting,"  judged 
from  our  standpoint,  played  a  part  did  not 
appear  until  about  the  time  of  the  Restora- 
tion in  England.  From  that  time  on  the 
evident  desire  of  the  theater  has  been  to  be 
true  to  nature.  The  theater  holds  up  to  our 
view  an  ideal  condition  of  affairs,  but  must 
as  far  as  possible  base  its  presentation  upon 
scenes  and  customs  that  are  contemporane- 
ous with  the  events  portrayed.  In  develop- 
ing the  modem  drama  the  art  of  the  actor 
has  come  to  be  recognized  as  giving  him 
right  to  a  place  of  honor  and  recognition. 
Women  were  not  employed  to  take  part  in 
the  theaters  as  actresses  imtil  the  latter  part 
of  the  17th  century.    They  were  seen  first 

[188] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

in  France.  Before  this  the  female  parts 
were  performed  by  youths.  In  the  argu- 
ments for  and  against  the  theater  we  again 
see  the  effect  of  a  lack  of  discrimination. 
The  Puritans  attacked  the  players,  but  in 
England  they  were  not  alone  in  their  war 
on  the  stage.  As  early  as  the  latter  half  of 
the  16th  century  the  leading  officials  of  the 
church  were  bitterly  denouncing  the  stage 
and  its  evils.  Oxford  University  in  1584 
passed  a  statute  forbidding  plays  and  play- 
ers in  the  imiversity  on  the  same  grounds 
that  the  Puritans  had  taken  the  generation 
before.  The  play  house  was  considered  "a 
trap  for  young  gentlemen  and  others." 
Players  were  put  out  of  the  city,  and  thea- 
ters were  destroyed.  In  France  Voltaire's 
soul  was  troubled  when  he  saw  the  body  of 
Adrienne  Lecouvreur  thrown  into  the  ditch 
outside  of  the  city.  She  was  a  popular 
actress  who  had  been  ministering  to  the  joy 
of  the  people,  yet  who  was  not  considered 
worthy  of  a  Christian  burial.  In  the  ancient 
phraseology  of  our  law  books,  the  players 

[184] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

were  classified  with  the  "rogues  and  other 
dissolute  fellows." 

For  centuries  we  have  recognized  the  evil 
side  of  the  theater  and  its  possibility  of 
appealing  to  the  lowest,  and  strenuous  ef- 
forts have  been  made  to  reform  it.  The 
ideal  theater  has  not  been  built,  and  ideal 
conditions  do  not  obtain  in  the  theatrical 
profession.  Because  of  its  tremendous 
power  over  people  and  its  possible  educa- 
tive value,  the  church  must  take  a  more 
constructive  attitude  toward  it  than  it  has 
done  for  the  most  part  in  the  past.  Plays 
are  good,  bad  and  indifferent.  There  are 
theaters  of  all  grades  and  all  descriptions. 
If  a  good  play  is  offered  to  the  people  at  a 
reasonable  price,  it  will  become  more  pop- 
ular and  have  a  better  patronage  than  the 
salacious  or  openly  immoral  production. 
The  plays  that  have  lasted  and  have  become 
known  to  successive  generations  of  play- 
goers are  the  plays  that  have  a  strong  moral 
appeal,  and  are  clean  and  amusing.  Such 
plays  as  Rip  Van  Winkle  played  by  Joseph 

[185] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

Jefferson,  and  The  Old  Homestead  by  Den- 
man  Thompson  outlasted  thousands  of  vul- 
gar productions.  The  whole  problem  is  one 
of  discrimination.  The  motion  picture  shows 
have  done  more  to  redeem  the  theater  than 
any  other  one  thing,  simply  because  they 
have  presented  the  best  in  drama  and  litera- 
ture in  a  pleasing  form  and  at  a  price  that 
is  within  reach  of  all  the  people.  According 
to  the  best  available  statistics,  there  are 
about  17,000  places  of  exhibit  of  motion 
pictures  in  the  United  States,  and  fully  ten 
million  of  the  population  of  the  nation  visit 
these  show  places  with  more  or  less  fre- 
quency. It  is  estimated  that  about  one- 
sixth  of  the  population  of  New  York  City 
attends  the  motion  picure  shows  daily,  and 
the  people  in  other  cities  are  attending 
in  about  the  same  proportion.  During 
1913  the  National  Board  of  Censorship 
of  Motion  Pictures  estimated  that  the 
people  of  our  country  spent  $319,000,- 
000  for  admission  fees  to  the  motion 
picture  shows.     These  shows  are  popular 

[186] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

because  this  is  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  that  the  best  in  art 
and  hterature  presented  in  dramatic  form 
has  been  made  accessible  to  the  common 
people. 

Jane  Addams  calls  the  motion  picture 
show  "the  house  of  dreams."  Every  thea- 
ter is  exactly  this  to  a  multitude  of  people. 
It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  a  belief  in  the 
unreal  and  to  take  an  interest  in  a  play 
world.  Any  person  who  cannot  lose  himself 
in  watching  and  listening  to  the  unfolding 
of  an  interesting  drama  has  lost  the  last 
spark  of  the  spirit  of  youth.  Charles  H. 
Parldiurst  says:  "Some  of  us  have  not  in 
our  lives  enough  of  the  imreal.  Seriousness 
is  likely  to  degenerate  into  moroseness  and 
acidity  if  it  is  not  diluted  with  an  infusion 
of  the  play  impulse.  We  need  to  play. 
Play  lubricates  the  stiff  grating  machinery 
of  work-a-day  life.  It  keeps  us  young. 
When  we  have  ceased  to  love  to  play  we  are 
almost  dead  already.  To  be  indifferent  to 
the  fascination  of  amusements  means  that 

[187] 


THE   CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

the  child  that  was  in  us  by  nature  has  turned 
to  adult  and  that  we  are  already  tainted 
with  superannuation."  Music  is  furnished 
through  municipal  parks ;  pictures,  statuary 
and  other  works  of  art  through  the  public 
museums;  the  libraries  have  furnished  the 
means  to  satisfy  those  who  have  the  taste 
for  history,  biography,  fiction  and  poetry; 
but  the  man  who  appreciates  the  best  in  the 
drama  and  who  longs  to  see  a  really  good 
exhibit  at  the  theater  has  been  prohibited 
because  of  the  price  charged  for  admittance. 
On  the  other  hand  the  cheap,  poor,  vile,  con- 
taminating theatrical  performances  have 
been  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest.  It  is 
the  abuse  of  the  theater  rather  than  its  use 
that  makes  it  dangerous.  Like  every  other 
interest  in  life  the  theater  has  a  right  to  be 
judged  at  its  best.  Here,  as  in  the  other 
forms  of  popular  amusements,  it  remains 
for  the  church  to  inculcate  good  principles, 
and  so  transform  the  tastes  of  the  people 
that  they  will  instinctively  learn  the  things 
that  are  best  and  will  naturally  turn  from 

[188] 


DANCING,    CARDS,    THEATER 

those  that  are  vile  and  hurtful  to  those  that 
are  pure  and  helpful. 

The  church,  instead  of  being  critical  and 
suspicious  of  the  people's  motives,  must  be 
sympathetic  with  every  endeavor  to  find 
right  kinds  of  play,  and  ready  to  help  pro- 
vide those  things  that  are  good  and  make  it 
possible  for  the  people  to  follow  their  best 
inclinations.  Granted  that  some  of  the  peo- 
ple are  suffering  from  an  excess  of  amuse- 
ments, and  that  they  have  gone  too  far  in 
their  desire  for  fun:  the  way  to  strike  the 
proper  balance  is  not  by  prohibiting  all 
pleasures,  nor  by  indiscriminate  condemna- 
tion, but  by  giving  such  persons  other  things 
to  think  about  and  worthy  tasks  to  do,  so 
that  recreation  and  amusement  will  natu- 
rally fall  into  their  proper  places  in  the 
ordered  scheme  of  life.  In  preaching  to 
some  audiences  against  the  excesses  grow- 
ing out  of  the  expression  of  tne  play  spirit, 
it  is  necessary  for  the  church  to  urge  mod- 
eration; but  instead  of  demanding  renun- 
ciation, put  in  its  place  the  more  significant 
word,  discrimination. 

[189] 


VI 

RECONSTRUCTING  THE  PLAY 
LIFE  OF  THE  PEOPLE 


CHAPTER   VI 

RECONSTRUCTING  THE  PLAY 
LIFE  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

Among  the  most  important  tasks  that 
have  been  midertaken  in  recent  years  is  the 
task  of  reconstructing  the  play  life  of  the 
people.  Various  institutions  and  agencies 
are  at  work  and  gradually  a  new  conscience 
is  being  developed,  a  new  standard  adopted 
and  opportunities  provided  for  play,  so  that 
to  some  degree  it  is  coming  to  have  its  nor- 
mal place  in  the  community  life. 

The  Russell- Sage  Foundation,  which  was 
incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  New  York  in  April,  1907,  has  for  its  pur- 
pose "the  improvement  of  social  and  living 
conditions  in  the  United  States  of  America." 
One  of  the  first  undertakings  of  the  Foun- 
dation was  to  establish  children's  play 
grounds  and  to  give  temporary  aid  to  the 
National  Association  then  being  organized 

[143] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

to  carry  forward  the  play-ground  work.  As 
soon  as  the  Playground  Association  of 
America  had  secured  necessary  funds  to 
carry  on  its  activities  this  department  of  the 
Foundation  turned  its  energies  to  research, 
with  a  view  to  pubHcity  and  to  a  study  of 
the  special  recreational  problems  not  covered 
by  the  Playground  Association. 

The  principles  that  guide  this  department 
as  stated  in  its  bulletins  are : 

"Research:  To  provide  a  sound  basis  for 
action  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  thorough 
impartial  searching  out  of  the  conditions 
underlying  each  proposed  activity  and  to 
obtain  a  clear  understanding  of  their  mutual 
relations  to  other  social  tasks. 

"Securing  Community  Action:  This  in- 
volves bringing  the  facts  to  the  attention  of 
those  who  are  responsible  for  action;  stim- 
ulating the  adoption  of  various  forms  of 
social  betterment  relating  to  recreation  and 
suggesting  modes  of  procedure." 

First  among  the  agencies  at  work  recon- 

[144] 


RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION  BUILDING,  NEW  YORK   CITY 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

structing  the  play  life  of  the  people  is  the 
Playground  Association  of  America.  This 
movement  in  our  country  grew  out  of  the 
recognition  that  boys  and  girls  need  a  place 
in  which  to  play  and  some  one  to  teach  them 
how  to  play.  The  Association  was  formed 
to  provide  opportunities  in  every  city  that 
would  be  adequate  for  all  classes  of  young 
people:  sand  piles  for  small  children,  play 
grounds  with  equipment  for  older  children, 
and  athletic  fields  with  the  base  ball  diamond 
and  other  equipment  for  boys.  Added  to 
these  means  were  folk  dance  classes  and  halls 
provided  for  social  dancing  where  boys  and 
girls  in  their  teens  might  have  opportunity 
for  wholesome  social  recreation.  This  Asso- 
ciation furnishes  experts  to  help  cities  organ- 
ize their  recreational  life.  The  tendency  in 
large  cities  and  even  in  towns  has  been  to 
fill  up  the  children's  play  space  with  business 
blocks.  Automobiles  and  policemen  prevent 
street  play,  therefore  many  children,  idle 
and  playless  much  of  the  time,  become  wards 
of  jails,  charities  and  hospitals.    It  is  ex- 

[145] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

pected  that  the  cities  themselves  should  bear 
the  expense  of  creating  and  maintaining 
their  own  play  gromids,  but  the  National 
Association  carries  on  the  propaganda,  edu- 
cates communities,  trains  and  furnishes  lead- 
ers, thus  helping  communities  to  recognize 
that  play  ought  to  be  as  well  organized  as 
other  educational  activities.  The  ideal  pre- 
sented is  that  arrangements  for  play  activ- 
ities should  parallel  the  school  system  in 
our  various  cities  and  towns.  According  to 
the  last  report  of  the  Association  over  1,050 
communities  replied  to  an  inquiry  as  to 
whether  they  were  conducting  supervised 
recreation.  Of  these  642  cities  reported  that 
they  were  maintaining  regularly  supervised 
play  grounds  and  recreation  centers  or  were 
making  some  effort  in  that  direction.  These 
cities,  during  the  year  ending  November  1st, 
1913,  maintained  2,302  such  places.  In  31 
cities  the  playground  and  recreational  cen- 
ters are  maintained  by  conmiissions ;  five  by 
playground  or  recreational  departments. 
In  others  the  work  is  combined  with  that 

[146] 


RECONSTRUCTING   PLAY 

of  the  park  commission,  school  board,  wel- 
fare boards,  and  still  others  are  carried 
on  by  private  agencies  such  as  churches, 
women's  clubs,  improvement  associations, 
Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Associations.  In  one  hundred  and 
eleven  cities  these  centers  were  supported  by 
municipal  and  private  funds.  The  total 
expenditure  reported  for  this  purpose 
amounted  to  $570,223.81.  There  are  6,318 
workers  employed  who  are  giving  full  time 
to  directing  the  play.  Besides  these  there 
are  1,933  care  takers  employed  in  and  about 
the  various  play  grounds.  Fifty-nine  cities 
maintain  classes  for  the  training  of  recrea- 
tion workers  and  thirty-five  of  these  cities 
reported  2,638  students.  In  addition,  seven 
cities  reported  that  training  classes  were  in 
process  of  organization,  and  ten  cities  re- 
ported weekly  conferences  relating  to  the 
whole  problem  of  the  people's  play,  these 
conferences  not  being  strictly  training 
classes.  In  eighteen  communities  the  rec- 
reation positions  were  filled  by  civil  service 

[147] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

examinations.  During  last  year  seventy 
additional  cities  added  supervised  play- 
grounds and  equipment  for  the  first  time, 
and  in  twenty  cities  bond  issues  for  rec- 
reational purposes  were  authorized  to  the 
amount  of  $2,358,000.  In  forty-five  cities 
land  and  buildings  were  donated  for  play- 
ground purposes,  having  a  combined  value 
in  twenty-six  of  these  cities  amounting  to 
$196,400.64.  In  313  cities  a  total  average 
daily  attendance  was  reported  during  July 
and  August  of  454,438  persons.  The  plans 
include  separate  space  for  boys  and  girls; 
supervised  evening  centers ;  streets  used  for 
play  purposes  and  organized  public  athlet- 
ics. Special  play  activities  include  the  fol- 
lowing: Wading,  tramping,  swimming, 
camping,  story  telling,  dancing,  skating, 
singing,  civics,  pageants,  moving  pictures, 
libraries  and  reading  rooms,  lectures,  music, 
industrial  training,  gardening,  folk  dancing, 
evening  entertainments,  dramatics,  debating 
and  the  activities  of  the  Camp  Fire  girls  and 
Boy  Scouts.    The  report  states  that  the  past 

[148J 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

year  marked  an  interesting  growth  in  the 
establishment  of  playgrounds  by  industrial 
plants  which  maintained  them  for  the  entire 
community  either  wholly  at  their  own  ex- 
pense or  in  conjunction  with  the  other  agen- 
cies for  providing  recreation.  This  Asso- 
ciation has  brought  about  a  general  recog- 
nition throughout  our  country  of  the  fact 
that  every  community  needs  play  centers 
that  shall  be  open  for  the  entire  year,  and 
that  one  of  the  first  essentials  in  working 
out  a  creditable  system  in  any  city  is  to  have 
men  and  women  employed  giving  full  time 
to  the  recreation  problem  under  the  direc- 
tion of  one  person  appointed  by  the  city, 
who  shall  have  general  charge,  as  has  a  city 
school  superintendent.  In  a  report  on  the 
exploitation  of  pleasure  in  New  York,  pub- 
lished by  the  Russell- Sage  Foimdation,  it 
was  stated  that  a  large  majority  of  the 
young  girls  during  the  period  of  adolescence 
pass  through  the  education  of  the  dancing 
academy.  This  influence  over  the  youth  of 
New  York  is  almost  universal.    There  are 

[149] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

over  one  hundred  dance-halls  in  Manhattan. 
These  range  in  character  from  the  very 
finest  and  largest  down  to  the  dark  back 
room  of  the  saloon  where  "couples  sit  around 
at  tables  and  from  time  to  time  arise  and 
whirl  to  the  music  of  an  unpleasant  piano." 
Mrs.  Charles  H.  Israel  secured  information 
concerning  dance  halls  throughout  the 
United  States.  After  studying  one  hundred 
and  fifty  different  places,  varying  from  the 
little  town  with  its  small  hall,  or  the  subur- 
ban village  with  its  public  place,  to  the  city 
like  greater  New  York  with  its  five  hundred 
licensed  dance  halls,  and  where  a  community 
of  80,000  persons  has  dance  halls  sufficient  to 
accommodate  15,000  in  a  night,  and  where  in 
five  hundred  dance  halls  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion people  dance  each  evening,  she  formed 
a  conclusion  with  which  we  cannot  but  agree : 
"The  interrelation  of  the  amusement  prob- 
lem and  the  adolescent  youth  is  something 
that  there  is  need  for  us  not  to  forget." 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  do  away  with 
dancing  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  play  life 

[160] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

of  the  people  therefore  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  the  dance  halls  be  closely  super- 
vised. Public  opinion  must  be  depended 
upon  in  every  community  to  establish  a 
standard  of  conduct.  But  it  is  often  true 
that  opinions  are  formed  on  too  few  facts 
and  most  judgments  are  small  and  narrow. 
Public  opinion  must  be  educated  to  view  the 
needs  and  demands  of  the  entire  community 
and  to  recognize  that  any  thing  that  happens 
of  an  objectionable  nature  in  a  dance  hall 
might  have  happened  any  where  else.  At 
the  same  time  the  very  fact  that  it  did  hap- 
pen in  the  dance  hall  and  is  connected  with 
it  in  the  thought  of  the  people  must  be 
looked  upon  as  a  register  of  the  community's 
attitude.  Joseph  Lee  says,  speaking  of  this 
question  of  regulation:  "Let  us  not  be  too 
fearful,  or  too  negative.  Life  upon  the 
whole  is  good,  not  bad.  It  was  made  for 
living  not  to  be  cast  aside.  The  mutual 
attraction  of  boy  and  girl  that  has  in  it  a 
great  part  of  the  interest  and  beauty  of  our 
lives  is  not  a  power  to  be  decried  or  fought 

[151] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

against."  Educate  the  community  to  ex- 
pect good  things  and  people  will  look  for 
the  good.  Show  them  that  the  dance-hall 
may  conform  to  the  highest  conception  of 
morality  and  right.  Without  this  educating 
of  the  community  conscience  no  legislation 
will  be  effective.  But  public  opinion  must 
be  crystalized  into  law  and  the  laws  must  be 
enforced.  These  laws,  however,  must  take 
into  consideration  the  varied  character  of 
communities  and  the  different  characteris- 
tics of  human  nature.  To  quote  Joseph  Lee 
again:  "Human  virtue  it  seems  is  like  a 
hotel  blanket;  when  you  cover  your  feet  it 
comes  off  your  shoulders.  When  you  feel 
that  you  are  too  decollete  for  comfort  and 
that  the  higher  interests  are  being  neglected 
you  pull  it  up  over  your  neck  and  it  comes 
off  your  feet.  Naturally  human  nature  re- 
volts against  the  cold.  So  the  race  has  alter- 
nated between  license  and  Puritanism.  We 
must  stretch  our  virtue  until  it  will  cover 
human  nature  as  it  is."  The  law  which  reg- 
ulates the  dance-halls  in  Chicago  and  New 

[152] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

York,  while  having  many  of  the  same  fea- 
tures, must  of  necessity  be  different  from 
the  laws  regulating  the  dance-halls  in  the 
small  communities,  where  the  people  all 
know  each  other  and  life  is  lived  on  a 
simple  plane.  Control  of  the  dance-halls 
and  responsibility  for  conditions  should  be 
placed  squarely  upon  the  shoulders  of  one 
official  in  one  department  of  the  municipal 
government.  This  is  a  matter  that  has  to 
do  with  the  life  of  the  city  and  the  rules  and 
regulations  should  be  those  that  the  com- 
munity has  sanctioned  and  is  willing  to  have 
enforced.  The  very  first  consideration  in 
such  legislation  should  be  the  building  in 
which  the  dance-hall  is  located.  Our  cities 
need  to  study  the  question  of  construction. 
We  have  laws  on  this  matter  but  they  are 
not  uniform  in  the  various  cities,  and  some 
of  them  are  antiquated  and  frightfully  in- 
adequate. The  halls  should  either  be  located 
in  fireproof  buildings  or  not  above  the  sec- 
ond story  in  buildings  where  there  is  danger 
of  a  conflagration.  Rigid  regulations  should 

[153] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

be  enforced  to  provide  adequate  ventilation, 
and  clean  and  sanitary  toilet  facilities  that 
will  not  lead  to  coarseness,  indecency,  or 
the  possibility  of  immorality.  The  lighting 
should  be  so  arranged  that  there  will  be  no 
dark  corners,  and  the  electric  switches  so 
placed  that  no  one  can  tamper  with  them; 
the  heating,  the  care  as  to  cleanliness  and 
the  general  appearance  of  the  hall  should  all 
come  under  the  inspection  and  regulation 
of  the  city. 

Having  a  place  to  dance  that  is  physically 
fit  and  clean,  then  certain  regulations  re- 
garding the  conduct  of  the  dance  itself 
should  be  enacted  and  enforced.  An  ordi- 
nance governing  the  dance  should  absolutely 
prohibit  the  selling  of  liquor  in  the  hall  or 
in  any  building  directly  connected  with  the 
hall.  No  return  check  should  be  issued.  If 
a  person  leaves  the  dance-hall  except  under 
mostr extraordinary  circumstances,  he  should 
not  be  allowed  to  return  without  again  pay- 
ing the  regular  admission  fee.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  enforce  a  rule  against  liquor,  but 

[154] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

just  as  long  as  the  saloon  and  liquor  interests 
control  the  dance-halls  just  so  long  it  will 
be  impossible  to  have  any  thing  that  even 
approximates  a  decent  dance-hall.  Liquor 
and  dancing  must  be  divorced,  or  certainly 
there  will  be  grave  moral  danger.  The  worst 
excesses  are  reported  in  dance-halls  after 
midnight.  There  is  no  reason  why  the 
dance-hall  should  be  allowed  to  remain  open 
all  night,  or  even  until  three  or  four  o'clock, 
except  on  rare  occasions  of  unusual  interest. 
A  law  should  be  passed  in  every  conmiunity 
and  rigidly  enforced  by  which  the  dance- 
halls  close  at  12  o'clock.  Julia  Schoenfield 
thinks  that  this  early  closing  is  so  important 
that  even  if  a  club  desires  to  run  a  dance 
until  the  early  morning  hours,  "It  should 
show  the  license  bureau  the  need  for  con- 
tinuing the  dance  and  receive  a  special  per- 
mit." No  girl  or  boy  under  eighteen  years 
of  age  should  be  allowed  to  attend  public 
dances  in  public  dance-halls.  It  is  argued 
that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  enforce 
this  rule,  and  that  in  any  case  it  ought  not 

[155] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

to  be  enforced,  for  the  age  from  fourteen 
to  eighteen  is  the  age  when  a  girl  is  very 
apt  to  need  some  such  relaxation  as  the 
dance  offers.  The  answer  to  this  is  per- 
fectly obvious.  Instead  of  public  dance- 
halls  for  young  people  of  this  age  provision 
should  be  made  through  the  parks,  play- 
grounds and  other  social  centers  where  they 
can  safely  indulge  their  love  of  dancing  and 
at  the  same  time  not  break  away  from  the 
family  and  neighborhood  group.  The  Juve- 
nile Protective  Association  of  Chicago  in  a 
report  on  dancing  suggests  that  a  city  ordi- 
nance should  be  enacted  covering  the  fol- 
lowing points: 

"A  license  should  be  required  for  prem- 
ises used  for  dance-halls,  not  for  the  man 
who  operates  the  halls.  This  would  make  it 
impossible  to  have  a  hcense  taken  out  by  a 
relative  after  it  had  been  once  revoked. 

"All  dance-halls  should  be  made  to  comply 
with  the  regulations  of  the  Building  and 
Fire  Departments  so  as  to  insure  proper 
sanitation  and  adequate  fire  protection.    By 

[156] 


RECONSTRUCTING   PLAY 

this  means  many  small  and  poorly  built  halls 
would  be  forced  out  of  business  because  they 
could  not  pass  inspection. 

"The  sale  of  liquor  in  dance-halls  or  in 
buildings  connected  with  them  should  be 
prohibited. 

"The  giving  of  return  checks  to  dancers 
should  be  prohibited  so  that  the  saloons  in 
the  neighborhood  may  not  be  constantly 
utilized. 

"The  connection  of  dance-halls  with 
rooming  houses  or  hotels  should  be  pro- 
hibited. 

"All  halls  should  be  brilliantly  lighted  and 
all  stairways  and  other  passages  and  all 
rooms  connected  with  dance-halls  should  be 
kept  open  and  well  lighted. 

"No  immoral  dancing  or  familiarity 
should  be  tolerated. 

"People  under  the  influence  of  Hquor  or 
known  prostitutes  should  not  be  permitted 
in  dance-halls. 

"A  policeman  provided  by  the  city  should 
be  on  duty  at  every  dance  and  should  remain 

[167] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

at  his  post  from  the  time  the  hall  is  opened 
until  it  is  closed.  He  should  be  instructed 
to  enforce  the  above  regulations. 

"A  license  should  be  forfeited  upon  pres- 
entation of  reliable  evidence  that  the  rules 
and  regulations  covering  the  dance-halls 
have  been  violated. 

"There  should  be  an  inspector  of  dance- 
halls  who  should  have  in  his  department  a 
corps  of  inspectors  who  would  regularly 
inspect  the  dance-halls  and  make  reports 
concerning  them  to  the  chief  inspector." 

This  Association  thinks  that  no  limit 
should  be  put  on  the  age  of  those  who  attend 
the  dance  and  that  the  hours  of  closing 
should  not  be  determined  by  statute,  but  left 
to  the  discretion  of  the  people  themselves. 
This  would  be  well  were  it  not  that  the  peo- 
ple who  attend  the  dance  are  not  the  ones 
who  can  determine  these  questions.  Most 
of  them  are  at  the  mercy  of  those  who 
manage  the  halls.  The  only  way  that  these 
regulations  can  be  carried  out  is  by  having 
a  strict  inspection  of  the  dance-halls.    There 

[158] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

should  be  an  inspector  in  attendance  in  every 
hall  where  a  public  dance  is  given  and  in 
addition  a  matron,  a  woman  of  broad  sym- 
pathies, wide  tolerance  and  with  a  keen 
knowledge  of  the  world,  so  that  any  girl 
would  feel  that  she  had  in  her  a  friend.  The 
cost  of  the  inspection  should  be  borne  by  the 
management  of  the  hall  itself. 

The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  of 
Chicago  had  an  interesting  experience  with 
the  proprietor  of  a  disreputable  hall.  He 
was  told  that  he  must  close  his  saloon,  aban- 
don his  wine  room  and  make  certain  changes 
in  the  physical  arrangement  of  the  hall  and 
the  buildings.  These  things  he  did.  But 
several  months  later  he  came  and  said  that 
he  still  felt  that  his  hall  was  not  what  it 
ought  to  be;  that  liquor  was  sold  at  the 
dances  under  special  permit.  He  asked  the 
Association  to  send  some  one  who  would 
act  as  inspector  and  said  he  would  gladly 
pay  the  salary  of  such  an  official.  The  As- 
sociation sent  a  social  worker  to  the  hall  who 
became  friendly  with  the  people  and  learned 

[169] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

the  personnel  of  the  groups  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. He  has  two  good  pohcemen  who 
assist  under  his  direction  and  they  are  also 
genuinely  interested  in  the  welfare  of  young 
people  who  attend  the  hall.  The  Associa- 
tion reports  that  the  dances  given  in  this 
hall  have  been  completely  revolutionized  and 
the  hall  has  become  thoroughly  respectable. 
The  proprietor  says  of  the  experiment :  "It 
pays  to  be  respectable,  for  I  am  now  renting 
my  hall  for  more  than  I  ever  did  before  and 
I  have  no  difficulty  in  disposing  of  it  to  nice 
people.  And,  besides,  I  sleep  nights  when 
I  think  of  the  girls."  Fred  F.  McClure, 
of  the  Board  of  Public  Welfare  in  Kansas 
City,  says:  "I  am  firmly  of  the  belief  that 
commercial  dance  halls  properly  regulated, 
if  owned  by  individuals,  can  be  brought  to 
the  same  standard  as  halls  owned  by  the 
municipality.  Believing  this  we  have  tried 
to  bring  the  commercial  dance-halls  of  Kan- 
sas City  up  to  the  standard  by  placing 
inspectors  in  every  hall  every  night  and 
insisting  that  the  manager  enforce  the  rules 

[160] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

laid  down  by  the  department."  In  Kansas 
City  a  permit  for  a  license  goes  to  the  Li- 
cense Bureau  and  then  to  the  chief  of  police 
for  his  counter  signature.  After  the  permit 
has  been  countersigned  by  the  chief  of  police 
the  manager  of  the  hall  signs  it,  thus  he  is 
practically  entering  into  a  contract  with  the 
city  to  operate  the  hall  in  a  decent  manner. 
Liquor  is  absolutely  barred.  No  connection 
of  any  kind  with  the  saloon  is  tolerated. 
There  can  be  no  passing  in  and  out  during 
the  evening.  No  dance  can  be  continued 
later  than  twelve  o'clock  except  in  the  case 
of  annual  meetings.  If  a  girl  comes  to  the 
dance-hall  who  appears  to  be  under  seven- 
teen years  of  age  her  name  is  taken  down 
and  the  next  morning  is  given  to  one  of  the 
women  probation  officers.  She  then  visits 
the  home  of  the  girl  and  warns  the  parents 
of  the  dangers  that  threaten  their  daughter 
if  she  is  allowed  to  attend  places  of  com- 
mercial amusement  and  keep  late  hours. 
They  are  also  warned  that  their  girl  must 
not  attend  a  public  dance  again  unless  ac- 

[161] 


THE   CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

companied  by  a  parent  or  guardian.  Mr. 
McClure  is  doubtful  of  the  ultimate  success 
in  making  the  public  commercial  dance-hall 
what  it  ought  to  be  and  agrees  that  the  social 
center  in  a  school-house  would  provide  a 
much  safer  and  better  means  of  affording 
young  people  the  opportimity  for  social 
dancing. 

The  municipal  dance-hall  has  been  pro- 
posed as  a  means  of  off -setting  the  evils  so 
often  connected  with  the  pubHc  commercial 
dance-hall.  Much  can  be  said  in  its  favor. 
In  cities  where  municipal  dance-halls  have 
been  opened  those  who  are  sympathetic  with 
the  people  in  their  play  have  felt  that  the 
cities  in  opening  these  halls  have  moved  in 
the  right  direction,  while  they  do  not  fail  to 
recognize  the  difficulty  in  maintaining  such 
places.  Probably,  however,  before  the  mu- 
nicipal dance-hall  can  take  the  place  of  the 
commercial  hall  it  will  be  necessary  to  open 
up  a  larger  number  of  our  school  houses 
and  church  parish  houses  as  social  centers, 
to  have  dance-halls  in  our  parks  and  play- 

1162] 


E^^^^KEM 

'A 

J^ 

1      1 

^ 

_^m 

i           ^' 

1 

• 

*#! 

^^^^H 

• 

.4^ 

i 

iH 

ll 

r    IJig 

1^ 

1% 

—  ^     Kn^KCH^I 

■■*s  - 

W9^ 

is 

ij 

50 

►J  ^; 

Oi2 
o  5 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

grounds  or  in  connection  with  our  churches 
and  our  clubs  and  invite  the  people  to  use 
them.  The  large  public  dance,  wherever 
it  is  given,  while  it  offers  a  wide  variety 
of  attractions  will,  because  of  the  indiscrim- 
inate mingling  and  mixing  of  all  classes  of 
people,  always  be  dangerous.  Dances  of 
small  groups  where  every  one  knows  every 
body  else,  where  all  are  friends  and  neigh- 
bors, are  more  amenable  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  case  to  the  ordinances  of  the  city  and 
to  the  dictates  of  good  conduct. 

Until  recent  days  we  in  America  have 
neglected  a  fruitful  opportunity  for  utiliz- 
ing our  national  resources  of  play  in  the 
failure  to  observe  national  holidays  in  a 
proper  manner  by  the  use  of  the  traditions 
and  history  of  cities  and  community  life. 
Independence  Day  was  celebrated  imtil 
within  a  few  years  ago  with  noise  and  roar. 
Its  joy  was  often  turned  to  sorrow  because 
of  its  fatalities.  Seven  years  ago  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  5,623  individuals  were  seri- 
ously injured  celebrating  the  day.     This 

1163] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

year  there  were  very  few  accidents.  The 
"Sane  Fourth"  means  a  celebration  of  the 
Fourth  of  July  not  by  fire  crackers  and 
cannons  but  by  some  such  means  as  that  of 
pageantry.  Programs  are  substituted  for 
fireworks.  These  programs  depict  historic 
incidents  and  give  emphasis  to  the  patriotic 
ideals  which  govern  our  country.  These 
celebrations  are  so  attractive  that  year  after 
year  a  larger  number  of  our  cities  have  taken 
up  the  idea.  Not  only  does  this  kind  of 
celebration  appeal  to  the  boy  and  girl  who 
has  rejoiced  in  the  barbarities  of  the  old 
time  Fourth  of  July,  but  it  makes  a  strong 
appeal  to  the  foreign  people  to  whom  Amer- 
ica is  new,  American  history  vague,  and 
American  customs  unreal.  By  tableaux  and 
pictures  the  whole  historic  past  has  been 
presented  before  the  eyes  of  wondering 
groups  and  in  a  number  of  cities  classes  of 
aliens,  as  a  result  of  this  day's  program, 
have  sought  the  papers  necessary  to  make 
them  American  citizens. 

There  need  be  no  difficulty  in  finding 

[164] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

leaders  in  each  community  capable  of  train- 
ing those  who  are  to  participate,  arranging 
the  details  and  conducting  the  pageantry  on 
the  Fourth  of  July.  Programs  and  material 
in  abundance  are  available  for  every  commu- 
nity that  wishes  to  undertake  this  splendid 
work  of  rescuing  our  greatest  national  holi- 
day and  making  it  contribute  to  the  life  and 
joy  of  our  nation. 

May  Day  offers  another  opportunity  for 
the  community  to  gather  together  its  people, 
and  through  the  play  spirit  bring  them  to 
an  appreciation  of  the  year  and  its  blessings. 
The  celebration  of  May  Day  is  an  old  Eng- 
lish custom  dating  from  the  period  when 
life  was  more  simple  and  when  people  took 
time  for  their  pleasures.  To  bring  it  back 
and  make  it  a  part  of  the  yearly  round  in 
the  life  of  the  average  community  is  a  thing 
well  worth  while. 

All  communities  have  some  events  con- 
nected with  their  early  history  that  can 
easily  be  made  the  basis  of  a  gala  season. 
A  pageant  developed  out  of  the  stories  of 

[165] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

the  past  helps  marvelously  in  cementing  the 
good  feelings  of  a  community  and  teaches 
the  people  how  to  play  and  how  to  work 
together.  At  Sag  Harbor  "Home  Coming 
Week"  was  made  the  occasion  of  depicting, 
by  means  of  pageantry,  the  story  of  whahng 
days  and  the  other  historic  events  connected 
with  the  early  times  of  this  old  Long 
Island  village.  As  a  result  the  entire  pop- 
ulation dropped  their  round  of  sober  duty 
and  "in  a  healthful  and  wholesome  way 
sought  enjoyment.  There  was  added  gain 
when  in  this  enjoyment  being  purely  social 
man  rubbed  shoulder  with  his  fellows  and 
thus  became  better  acquainted  with  the  peo- 
ple among  whom  he  was  living  working  and 
rearing  his  family."  The  entire  community 
profited  by  it.  People  learned  that  they 
could  "pull  together."  There  are  divisive 
forces  enough.  Loyalty  to  one's  group, 
lodge  or  society  very  easily  drifts  into  a  sort 
of  contempt  for  the  other  fellow's  crowd, 
but  when  representatives  of  practically 
every  organization  in  a  community  karn  that 

[166] 


RECONSTRUCTING   PLAY 

they  can  work  together  in  democratic  har- 
mony, on  one  plan,  for  several  weeks,  they 
are  on  the  way  toward  learning  that  the 
same  spirit  of  cooperation  carried  into  every 
department  of  community  life  will  help  to 
solve  many  of  the  problems  of  our  complex 
civilization.  At  Darien,  a  Connecticut  town 
about  forty  miles  from  New  York,  a  pag- 
eant was  given  depicting  the  story  of  the 
development  of  this  quaint  residential  com- 
munity. Other  places  have  carried  out  the 
same  idea  and  in  every  instance  the  results 
have  been  the  same:  the  cementing  of  the 
neighborhood  spirit,  the  development  of  a 
new  ideal  in  the  community  and  the  growth 
of  democracy.  The  season's  church  festivals 
all  lend  themselves  to  this  type  of  pageantry 
and  these  are  being  utilized  more  and  more 
by  various  communities.  As  a  result  the 
people  are  being  furnished  clean,  healthful 
forms  of  play,  are  being  amused  and  recre- 
ated; old  bitternesses  and  divisions  in  the 
commimity  are  often  forgotten  and  the  new- 
comers, many  of  them  from  other  shores, 

[167] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

to  whom  American  ways  and  institutions  are 
enigmas,  are  being  taught  through  this  com- 
munity play  and  brought  into  sympathy 
with  the  other  races.  The  people  of  a  neigh- 
borhood who  join  in  play,  forgetting  racial 
and  religious  diiferences,  are  making  a  long 
stride  forward  in  achieving  that  democracy 
without  which  our  nation  cannot  endure. 

The  motion  picture  developed  so  rapidly 
that  before  we  were  aware  of  it  a  new  form 
of  entertainment  had  come  into  existence 
and  made  an  appeal  to  all  conditions  of  men, 
to  all  races,  all  ages  and  all  degrees  of  edu- 
cation. It  is  by  far  the  most  democratic 
form  of  our  play.  The  motion  picture  of- 
fers opportunity  for  great  evil  as  well  as 
great  good,  therefore  it  is  most  essential  that 
there  should  be  some  check  on  the  output 
of  pictures  and  those  that  are  of  doubtful 
morality  as  well  as  those  that  are  positively 
bad  should  be  eliminated.  What  we  see  has 
a  much  more  powerful  eifect  upon  us  than 
what  we  hear.  How  can  the  motion  picture 
be  controlled?    America  does  not  like  the 

[168] 


oe 

■32 

='2 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

idea  of  a  censor  over  the  theater  or  over  the 
printing  press.  A  law  broad  enough  in  its 
scope  to  meet  the  demands  of  all  the  people 
would  be  futile.  One  narrow  enough  to  sat- 
isfy another  definite  class,  made  up  of  those 
who  see  evil  in  every  thing  that  they  do  not 
enjoy,  could  not  be  enforced.  The  solution 
of  the  question  was  effected  by  the  organ- 
ization of  the  National  Board  of  Censorship 
of  Motion  Pictures.  This  Board  was  cre- 
ated by  the  People's  Institute  and  at  the 
request  of  the  theaters  in  New  York  city 
that  were  exhibiting  motion  pictures.  The 
Board  is  a  volunteer  committee,  the  mem- 
bers serving  without  compensation.  It  is 
made  up  of  a  general  committee  of  repre- 
sentatives from  twenty  civic  agencies  located 
in  New  York,  together  with  certain  public- 
spirited  individuals  who  are  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  the  theatrical  or  motion  picture 
business;  an  executive  committee  is  chosen 
from  this  membership  and  Censoring  Com- 
mittee of  one  hundred  and  five  members. 
This  Censoring  Committee  is  divided  into 

[169] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

sub-committees  and  is  at  work  at  least  five 
days  each  week.  A  majority  of  those  voting 
determines  the  action  of  the  Board  on  any 
picture.  An  appeal  from  the  verdict  of  the 
Censoring  Committee  may  be  taken  by  any 
dissatisfied  member  of  the  Committee  by  the 
Secretary  or  by  the  owner  of  the  film  in 
question.  The  general  committee  has  the 
power  of  final  review.  The  film  is  again 
exhibited  before  the  general  committee; 
members  of  the  committee  of  the  first  in- 
spection state  their  reasons  for  or  against; 
the  owner  of  the  film  presents  his  defence 
of  the  film,  and  the  general  committee 
reaches  the  final  verdict.  As  soon  as  final 
action  is  taken  the  owner  of  the  film  is  noti- 
fied in  writing  and  a  notification  is  sent 
through  a  weekly  bulletin  to  correspondents 
of  the  Board. 

Although  this  Censorship  Board  has  no 
power  in  law,  yet  it  does  wield  a  great  influ- 
ence, because  it  works  through  a  cooperative 
arrangement  with  the  film  makers,  main- 
taining its  relation  with  a  given  manufac- 

[170j 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

turer  only  so  long  as  he  submits  all  his  prod- 
uct and  carries  out  all  the  recommendations 
of  the  Board. 

The  work  of  the  Board  is  varied  and 
exacting.  A  definite  standard  of  judgment 
has  been  adopted  and  is  stated  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms  in  its  annual  report: 

"The  Board  prohibits  obscenity  in  all 
forms;  vulgarity  when  it  offends  or  when 
it  verges  toward  indecency,  unless  an  ade- 
quate moral  purpose  is  served.  It  prohibits 
the  representation  of  crime  in  such  detailed 
way  as  may  teach  the  methods  of  commit- 
ting crime,  except  as  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Board  the  representation  serves  as  a 
warning  to  the  whole  public ;  morbid  scenes 
of  crime  where  the  only  value  of  the  scene 
is  in  its  morbidity  or  criminal  appeal  are 
excised.  Nevertheless  the  Board  cannot 
judge  films  exclusively  from  the  standpoint 
of  children  or  delicate  women,  of  the  emo- 
tionally morbid,  or  of  any  one  class  of  audi- 
ence. But  it  does  take  into  consideration 
as  one  of  the  controlling  motives  governing 

[171] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

it  the  fact  that  possibly  25  per  cent,  of  the 
total  motion  picture  audience  is  made  up  of 
children  under  sixteen. 

Broad  problems  such  as  the  effect  of 
scenes  of  violence  on  the  juvenile  mind  still 
rest  in  an  astonishing  obscurity.  It  is  im- 
possible to  get  either  from  the  lips  of  psy- 
chologists or  from  the  penal  statistics  of 
the  country  any  conclusive  verdict  on  this 
subject. 

The  Board  prohibits  the  unnecessary  elab- 
oration or  prolongation  of  scenes  of  suffer- 
ing, brutality,  vulgarity,  violence  or  crime; 
prohibits  blasphemy,  by  which  is  imderstood 
the  careless,  vranton  or  unnecessary  offence 
against  religious  susceptibilities  of  any  large 
number  of  people  in  the  country;  anything 
obviously  or  wantonly  libellous  in  films; 
anything  calculated  to  cause  injury  to  per- 
sons or  interests  from  an  obviously  malicious 
or  libelous  motive,  and  films  dealing  with 
questions  of  fact  which  relate  to  criminal 
cases  pending  in  the  courts. 

The  Board  does  not  enforce  on  motion 

[172] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

pictures  simply  its  own  views  of  what  is 
desirable  and  right.  Rather  it  tries  to  elim- 
inate its  own  personal  equation  completely. 
The  general  conscience  of  the  country  be- 
lieves in  free  speech  on  religious  and  polit- 
ical matters;  in  the  right  of  the  people  to 
live  and  enjoy  themselves  in  the  way  they 
see  fit  so  long  as  fundamental  morality  is 
not  injiu-ed;  to  insure  a  certain  amount  of 
freedom  both  to  speech,  to  art  and  to  con- 
duct is  a  part  of  the  conscience  of  the  coim- 
try  as  much  as  to  forbid  obscene  and  demor- 
alizing speech  and  art  and  to  prevent  de- 
structive actions. 

The  Board  does  not  regard  itself  as  a 
Censor  of  tastes,  unless  it  is  clear  that  the 
question  of  taste  is  an  essentially  moral  one. 
Nor  does  it  regard  itself  as  a  censor  of  accu- 
racy unless  the  inaccuracy  in  question  is  of 
a  libelous  kind  or  will  result  in  some  con- 
crete disaster  to  the  person  whom  the  inac- 
curacy misleads." 

Several  films  were  presented  to  the  Board 
during  the  last  year  dealing  with  the  White 

[178] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

Slave  Traffic.  These  presented  complicated 
moral  problems.  The  Board  finally  stated 
its  position  as  follows : 

"The  Board  will  critically  examine  all 
films  presenting  various  forms  of  sex  lapses ; 
for  those  effects  on  audiences  which  arouse 
rather  than  minimize  passions;  which  tend 
to  perpetuate  the  double  standard  of  moral- 
ity; which  reveal  easy  ways  of  gratifying 
desire  and  of  making  money  in  the  'trade,' 
or  which  simply  indicate  the  weaknesses  of 
humanity  or  recite  the  dreary  tale  of  the 
lives  of  those  unfortunate  members  of  soci- 
ety called  'prostitutes.'  " 

Last  year  7,576  reels  of  motion  pictures 
were  inspected  by  this  Board.  These  repre- 
sented 5,740  subjects  and  8,698,246  feet  of 
motion  pictures.  Out  of  these  only  53  sub- 
jects were  wholly  condemned;  401  were 
condemned  partially,  so  that  cuts  had  to  be 
made  in  the  reels.  In  this  way  12,030  feet 
of  film  were  eliminated.  This  loss  to  the 
manufacturers  amounted  to  $115,909.50.  It 
is  interesting  to  know  that  the  film  manu- 

[174] 


RECONSTRUCTING    PLAY 

facturing  companies  cooperate  heartily  with 
the  National  Board  and  very  seldom  is  there 
any  question  raised  as  to  its  decisions.  The 
motion  picture  concerns  of  the  country  have 
found  that  decency  pays. 

When  we  begin  to  discuss  the  question 
of  a  censorship  over  the  press  and  the  theater 
we  immediately  find  ourselves  in  the  midst 
of  difficulties.  State  censorship  is  being 
tried,  but  this  plan  of  control  meets  with 
severe  opposition,  for  it  is  similar  in  many 
respects  to  restricting  free  speech  or  impos- 
ing state  criticism  on  newspapers,  magazines 
and  books.  For  the  present,  at  least,  the 
practical  thing  seems  to  be  to  give  the  Na- 
tional Board  the  widest  possible  influence 
and  by  cooperating  secure  the  general  adop- 
tion of  its  standards  in  every  state  and 
community. 

The  question  of  the  municipal  theater 
receives  serious  consideration  from  time  to 
time.  Considering  the  experience  of  some 
of  the  European  cities  there  is  hope  that 
ultimately  there  may  be  a  people's  opera 
[in] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

house  in  every  community,  where  the  best 
in  music  and  the  drama  will  be  offered  to  the 
people  at  low  prices.  Why  could  not  the 
average  American  community  do  in  a 
smaller  degree  what  Charlottenburg,  Ger- 
many, did  in  a  magnificent  way?  In  this 
German  city  the  people  built  a  million  dol- 
lar opera  house  and  this  is  crowded  every 
night  with  the  residents  of  Greater  Berlin. 
Here  the  finest  singers  and  the  best  operas 
can  be  heard  for  sixteen  or  twenty  cents. 
Let  us  hope  that  in  some  city  in  our  country 
a  group  similar  to  the  society  which  made 
this  venture  a  success  will  try  out  this  plan. 
Our  efforts  for  a  municipal  theater  have 
failed  so  far  because  not  one  of  them  has 
ever  been  purely  a  people's  movement. 
They  have  usually  had  for  their  motive  the 
exploiting  of  some  new  idea,  the  educating 
of  the  people's  taste,  or  some  other  noble 
purpose,  when  in  reality  the  people's  theater 
must  be  built  on  the  level  of  the  people's 
lives  and  must  give  them  a  chance  to  hear 
and  see  the  things  they  love  best. 

[176] 


VII 
A  PROGRAM  FOR  THE  CHURCH 


CHAPTER  VII 
A  PROGRAM  FOR  THE  CHURCH 

Any  one  will  fail  of  his  mark  in  discussing^ 
this  question  of  recreation  who  assumes 
that  the  attitude  of  our  churches  and  the 
conditions  in  those  churches  are  the  same 
as  they  were  twenty-five  years  ago.  While 
many  will  question  some  of  the  statements 
and  divide  on  the  issues  raised  in  this  book 
it  is  believed  that  the  majority  will  agree  in 
general  with  what  has  been  said.  The  ques- 
tion that  all  will  raise  is  this :  what  can  the 
church  do  and  how  shall  it  be  done?  It 
must  be  plain  that  with  a  vision  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  in  men's  hearts,  the  next  step 
is  to  realize  that  Kingdom  in  the  midst  of 
the  community  hfe. 

The  first  thing  for  the  church  to  do  in 
providing  for  the  people's  play  is  to  learn 
the  recreational  facilities  of  the  conmiunity. 
This  information  cannot  be  gained  without 

[179] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

a  thorough  study  of  the  situation.  The 
average  person  in  the  community  knows  in 
a  vague  sort  of  way  what  the  facts  are 
relating  to  the  social  life  of  the  people,  but 
very  few  know  the  facts  definitely  enough 
to  be  able  to  state  them  accurately  and  con- 
vincingly. Each  person  is  apt  to  think  of 
each  particular  problem  from  his  own  stand- 
point. The  court  officials  know  of  the  girls 
and  boys  that  have  gotten  into  trouble  be- 
cause of  evil  forms  of  recreation.  They  can 
tell  of  men  and  women  whose  lives  are 
blighted  by  the  power  of  commerciaHzed 
play,  institutions  which  ought  not  to  be 
tolerated  in  any  well  regulated  community. 
The  doctors,  the  school  teachers,  the  minis- 
ters all  have  a  partial  view  of  the  commu- 
nity needs.  What  is  demanded  is  a  study 
of  the  whole  situation;  a  gathering  of  all 
the  facts  so  that  the  entire  community  can 
view  the  question  in  all  of  its  aspects.  In 
making  such  a  study  it  is  better  for  one 
particular  church  to  associate,  if  possible, 
with  all  the  other  churches  and  religious 

[180] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

forces  of  the  community  in  doing  the  work. 
If  this  cannot  be  done,  any  one  church  that 
has  a  vision  ought  to  go  ahead  and  get  the 
facts.  Such  facts  will  include  the  number 
of  people  that  are  playing  on  the  streets; 
the  number  of  boys  found  in  the  pool- 
rooms; the  attendance  at  the  dance-halls, 
playgrounds,  theaters  and  moving  picture 
shows;  the  character  of  the  places  and  the 
programs  offered.  If  there  are  saloons  in 
the  cormnunity,  it  will  be  necessary  to  find 
out  approximately  how  many  people  visit 
the  saloons,  their  attractions  and  how  long, 
on  the  average,  the  patrons  remain;  also 
the  hours  in  the  day  or  night  when  the  sa- 
loons are  doing  the  biggest  business.  Hav- 
ing secured  this  information  the  church  will 
then  have  in  its  possession  the  rough  mate- 
rial in  the  way  of  facts  upon  which  to  build 
its  program  of  action. 

After  securing  the  facts,  the  results  should 
be  tabulated  and  compared.  It  will  be  easy 
then  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  play 
facilities  are  adequate  for  the  needs  of  the 

[181] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

community.  Rowland  Haynes  of  the  Play- 
ground and  Recreation  Association  is  au- 
thority for  the  statement  that  in  many  cities 
it  was  found  by  an  intensive  study  that  fifty 
to  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  entire  recrea- 
tional life  was  cared  for  in  a  haphazard  way 
by  home  or  private  and  commercial  agencies 
and  of  the  thirty  to  fifty  per  cent.,  which 
would  naturally  fall  to  the  care  of  public 
recreation  agencies,  only  five  or  ten  per  cent, 
was  being  handled  by  such  agencies.  From 
the  facts  gathered  by  the  church  it  will  be 
of  prime  importance  to  determine  what  pro- 
portion of  the  people  have  their  recreational 
needs  looked  after  by  private  and  commer- 
cial agencies  and  what  proportion  through 
public  agencies.  The  study,  if  it  has  been 
made  properly,  will  include  detailed  statis- 
tics as  to  the  places  where  the  population  is 
most  congested.  This  information  can  be 
secured  from  the  government  census  reports 
and  the  records  of  the  city  engineer's  office. 
Having  the  area  of  each  ward  and  the  pop- 
ulation it  will  be  easy  to  compute  the  popu- 

[182] 


A   PROGRAM   FOR   THE    CHURCH 

lation  per  acre.  Then  if  the  school  census 
can  be  secured  it  will  give  the  number  of 
children  in  each  ward,  section  of  the  city, 
town  or  township.  If  these  records  cannot 
be  secured  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  a 
house  to  house  canvass.  Knowing  how 
many  people  there  are  desiring  to  play  and 
what  their  opportunities  are  for  play  it  will 
not  be  very  difficult  to  determine  whether  or 
not  the  facilities  offered  are  adequate.  By 
listing  the  various  types  of  recreation  in  each 
section  a  judgment  can  be  formed  as  to  the 
physical  and  moral  value  of  the  kind  of  play 
facilities  offered.  For  instance,  if  in  a  cer- 
tain community  it  was  found  that  there  was 
a  playground  adequate  in  size  and  equip- 
ment to  accommodate  all  the  children  within 
a  radius  of  eight  or  ten  blocks  obviously 
there  would  be  no  need  of  agitating  the 
playground  question  in  that  community. 
If  in  the  same  community  there  were  three 
dance-halls,  all  of  them  of  questionable 
character,  and  these  were  night  after  night 
crowded  with  the  young  men  and  women 

[188] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

of  the  community  it  would  be  apparent 
that  this  love  of  dancing  ought  to  be  ex- 
pressed imder  better  conditions.  If  in  the 
same  community  there  were  half  a  dozen 
saloons,  two  or  three  pool  rooms,  a  penny 
arcade,  three  moving  picture  shows  and  a 
burlesque  theater,  it  might  well  be  assumed 
from  the  facts  gathered  that  there  was  no 
very  definite  community  program  regarding 
recreation:  that  it  was  left  to  chance.  It 
would  probably  be  found  that  the  play 
grounds  had  been  put  into  the  district  by 
outside  agencies.  The  facts  being  known, 
the  one  thing  to  impress  itself  would  be 
the  need  of  providing  amusements  for  the 
older  boys  and  girls  as  well  as  for  the  men 
and  women;  the  problem  of  the  children's 
play  having  been  already  met. 

Having  learned  the  facts  through  an  in- 
tensive study  of  the  community,  and  having 
tabulated  the  results  and  drawn  conclusions 
regarding  the  needs  and  the  facilities  for 
meeting  them,  the  wise  church  will  attempt 
to  change  the  character  of  the  existing  rec- 

[184] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

reational  agencies.  There  are  definite  ways 
in  which  pool  rooms,  dance-halls,  moving 
picture  shows  and  other  play  agencies  can 
be  regulated  and  made  to  conform  to  the 
law.  In  this  the  church  will  need  to  exer- 
cise the  widest  charity  and  a  spirit  of  toler- 
ance. People  cannot  all  see  alike,  and  every 
community  must  provide  amusements  that 
the  people  enjoy.  In  a  city  where  a  rec- 
reational survey  was  made  and  it  was  found 
that  the  halls  were  badly  managed  and  were 
decidedly  a  dangerous  factor  in  the  life  of 
the  young  people  a  committee  called  for  a 
meeting  of  the  leading  citizens  to  discuss 
the  question.  Among  others  they  invited 
the  pastors  of  the  churches.  Two  of  the 
leading  ministers  refused  to  attend  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  unalterably  opposed 
to  dancing  in  any  form  and  would  not  give 
their  sanction  to  it,  even  so  far  as  to  at- 
tend a  meeting  where  the  question  of  rec- 
reation might  be  discussed.  They  were  in 
favor  of  one  thing  only,  and  that  was  the 
elimination  of  the  dance  hall.     These  two 

f  185  1 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

ministers  through  their  congregations  rep- 
resented approximately  five  hundred  people 
out  of  a  population  of  90,000.  In  one 
of  these  dance-halls  in  question  there  was 
accommodated  every  week  twelve  times  as 
many  young  people  as  attended  the  two 
churches  together.  As  it  was  impossible  for 
the  churches  to  prevent  the  people  attend- 
ing the  dance-halls  the  wise  and  humane 
thing  would  have  been  to  help  in  regu- 
lating and  making  them  as  safe  and  decent 
as  possible.  If  a  community  has  no  up- 
to-date  ordinance  governing  public  amuse- 
ments this  fact  ought  to  be  known.  Let 
the  church  help  publish  it  and  then  secure 
assistance  in  framing  such  legislation  as 
will  meet  the  needs.  It  must  be  clear  that 
no  matter  what  our  personal  opinions  are 
regarding  dancing  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion that  the  dance  is  much  less  dangerous 
conducted  in  a  well  regulated  hall  where 
there  is  close  supervision  by  the  city  through 
volunteer  or  paid  service  than  in  one  left 
to  itself.     What  is  true  of  the  dance-hall 

[186] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

is  true  of  the  pool  room  and  other  recre- 
ational opportunities.  While  we  have  to 
take  things  pretty  largely  as  we  find  them, 
it  is  nevertheless  the  duty  of  the  church  to 
educate  people  to  better  standards  so  that 
the  cheap  and  tawdry,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
vicious,  will  no  longer  make  its  appeal,  but 
until  this  is  done  the  people  who  may  be- 
come the  victims  of  bad  conditions  must  be 
protected  against  themselves,  as  well  as 
against  evil  designs  of  evil  men  and  women. 
Such  regulations  will  not  end  with  the  insti- 
tutions in  the  community  that  are  known  to 
be  of  doubtful  or  questionable  morality.  It 
is  just  as  necessary  to  have  some  sort  of 
pubhc  control  and  regulation  over  the  pub- 
lic parks  as  it  is  over  the  public  dance-halls. 
A  trip  through  the  parks  in  any  city  at 
night  will  offer  convincing  evidence  of  the 
need  of  plenty  of  light  and  police  regu- 
lation. The  emphasis  ought  to  be  put  on 
the  light  for  it  is  of  more  value  in  the 
long  run  than  the  efforts  of  the  police,  no 
matter  how  vigilant  they  may  be.     Thou- 

[187  J 


THE  CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

sands  of  young  people  in  our  parks,  who 
take  occasion  to  make  love  to  each  other, 
have  no  other  place  to  entertain  or  to  be 
entertained,  and  their  "spooning"  is  as 
harmless  as  it  is  natural.  The  danger  arises 
when  a  city  becomes  parsimonious  in  the 
matter  of  electricity  and  allows  benches  to 
be  placed  in  dark  and  unfrequented  places. 
Boston  is  a  model  in  the  administration  and 
equipment  of  her  parks.  They  are  well 
lighted  and  on  any  warm  evening  you  may 
see  young  couples  making  love  on  almost 
every  bench,  but  the  love  making  is  in  the 
glare  and  light  of  an  adjacent  electric  globe. 
It  is  a  good  thing  to  know  the  men  who 
own  the  places  of  public  amusement,  and 
are  responsible  for  their  administration.  A 
great  deal  may  be  done  through  personal 
contact.  If  the  dance-hall  proprietors, 
managers  of  pool  rooms,  owners  of  the 
motion  picture  shows  and  others  who  are 
furnishing  public  amusements  know  that 
the  church  people  understand  the  needs  of 
the  community  and  know  who  is  respon- 

[188  J 


A    PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

sible  for  the  kind  of  amusement  that  is  being 
furnished  they  are  very  apt  to  feel  that  they 
are  accountable  to  the  community  for  their 
attitude  as  well  as  their  actions.  The  Juve- 
nile Protective  Association  of  Chicago  really 
did  a  remarkable  thing  in  getting  acquainted 
with  the  managers  of  some  of  the  most 
vicious  dance-halls,  and  in  several  instances, 
by  explaining  to  them  the  purpose  of  the 
Association,  secured  the  cooperation  of  these 
managers  in  helping  carry  out  a  program 
for  bettering  conditions.  The  National 
Board  of  Censorship  of  Motion  Pictures  has 
accomplished  its  wonderful  work  and  exerts 
its  widespread  influence  through  cooperation 
v/ith  the  motion  picture  men  and  the  theater 
managers  throughout  the  country.  It  has 
been  able  to  do  more  than  could  be  accom- 
plished by  any  amount  of  the  most  drastic 
legislation.  Most  people  want  to  do  the  best 
thing  if  they  are  only  given  half  a  chance. 
The  church  will  not  go  far  astray  if  it  as- 
sumes this  statement  to  be  true  and  works 
along  these  lines. 

[189] 


THE  CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

The  membership  and  the  work  of  the 
Playgromid  Association,  the  dramatic 
leagues  and  other  agencies  ministering  to 
the  play  life  of  the  people  should  be  well 
known  to  the  church.  The  church  should 
learn  from  these  recreational  agencies  what 
they  need,  and  cooperate  with  them  in  help- 
ing to  put  through  a  unified  program  of  play 
for  the  whole  community.  One  of  the  great 
difficulties  in  this  field  arises  from  the  fact 
that  too  often  the  agencies  are  working  at 
cross  purposes.  In  one  city  a  sum  of  money 
had  been  appropriated  from  a  bond  issue 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  playgrounds. 
A  committee  of  the  women's  clubs  had  one 
idea  as  to  how  the  money  ought  to  be  spent ; 
the  civic  federation  had  another  plan;  the 
feeble  playground  association  had  still  an- 
other idea ;  the  business  interests  of  the  city 
wanted  it  adjacent  to  the  main  business 
street  so  they  could  sell  candies  and  sweets 
to  the  children  on  their  way  to  the  play- 
ground. The  churches  apparently  knew 
nothing  about  the  matter  and  expressed  no 

[190] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

interest  to  the  committees.  For  seven  years 
there  was  a  dead-lock  until  finally  one  of 
the  churches  woke  up  and  succeeded  in 
bringing  all  the  elements  of  the  community 
together  and  out  of  the  various  organiza- 
tions secured  members  for  the  playground 
association.  A  site  was  selected,  equipment 
purchased,  a  director  employed  and  the  city 
had  its  playgrounds.  It  is  much  better  for 
the  church  to  work  through  existing  agen- 
cies, cooperating  with  them,  than  it  is  to 
attempt  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  community 
through  its  own  efforts. 

After  cooperating  to  the  fullest  extent  it 
probably  will  be  found  that  there  are  certain 
definite  recreational  needs  that  are  not  being 
met  by  existing  agencies.  These  the  church 
should  provide,  or  stimulate  and  create 
agencies  to  provide  them.  It  may  be  that 
there  is  need  for  club  rooms ;  it  may  be  for 
a  dance-hall;  it  may  be  for  additional  play- 
ground facilities.  Whatever  it  is  that  the 
church  undertakes  to  do  in  this  way,  it  ought 
to  be  done  to  meet  a  definite  need  and  as  a 
[m] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

protest  to  the  community  because  the  com- 
munity has  not  been  able,  or  willing,  to  do 
its  duty.  The  failure  of  many  a  church  plan 
for  social  service  may  be  credited  to  the  fact 
that  the  church  has  undertaken  a  piece  of 
work  not  because  there  was  a  definite  call 
for  it  in  the  community,  but  because  the 
church  felt  that  in  its  own  interest  it  must 
do  something  different  from  what  it  had 
been  doing. 

The  church  is  responsible  in  every  com- 
munity for  educating  the  taste  of  the  people 
and  teaching  them  to  desire  better  things. 
The  pastor  of  a  church  in  a  western  city  saw 
that  the  young  people  were  being  hurt  by 
the  three  commercial  dance-halls  that  were 
located  within  a  radius  of  two  blocks  of  his 
church  building.  The  saloon  interests  had 
such  a  grip  upon  these  halls  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  better  them  by  any  kind  of  reg- 
ulation. They  were  totally  bad  and  would 
be  bad  as  long  as  they  existed.  The  pastor 
tried  to  get  in  touch  with  the  management 
and  found  that  the  men  interested  were  sim- 

[192] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

ply  social  pirates  and  he  could  make  no  im- 
pression upon  them.  In  fact  in  his  discus- 
sion with  them  they  were  insolent  and  defied 
him  and  his  kind.  After  studying  the  situ- 
ation, this  pastor  with  the  hearty  support  of 
his  church  board  established  a  dance-hall  in 
connection  with  the  church.  Admission  was 
free  but  any  one  who  attended  had  to  be 
endorsed  by  some  one  that  the  pastor  knew. 
The  hall  was  a  success  from  the  very  begin- 
ning. This  was  an  unusual  situation  and 
the  church  was  meeting  it  in  an  unusual 
way.  Not  only  were  the  young  people  being 
given  the  chance  to  dance  under  clean,  safe 
conditions,  but  the  community  was  being 
educated  and  shamed  into  action  against  the 
bad  halls.  If  the  time  should  come  when 
this  community  finds  itself  able  and  willing 
to  build,  equip  and  maintain  a  municipal 
hall  it  will  then  be  time  for  the  church  to 
cooperate  with  the  community  by  giving  up 
its  enterprise.  Another  church,  hearing  of 
what  had  been  accomplished,  undertook  in 
its  community  to  provide  the  same  kind  of 

[193] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

dance  privileges  for  the  young  people.  A 
hall  was  procured  and  fitted  up  and  the 
people  were  invited  to  come  to  the  dance. 
Only  a  few  responded.  The  church  was 
divided  over  the  question  and  finally  aban- 
doned all  interest  in  recreation  because  their 
dance-hall  was  a  failure.  The  pessimists  in 
the  church  gloated  over  what  seemed  to  them 
evidence  to  strengthen  their  theory  that  peo- 
ple are  inherently  bad.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
this  dance-hall  was  a  failure  simply  because 
there  was  no  need  for  it.  A  study  of  the 
community,  a  true  appraisal  of  its  needs, 
and  a  spirit  of  cooperation  with  the  other 
agencies  would  have  taught  the  church  the 
futility  of  undertaking  such  an  enterprise. 
There  are  many  activities  that  are  open  to 
the  church,  many  things  that  can  be  done 
and  some  of  them  with  very  little  equip- 
ment. From  among  the  following  sugges- 
tions any  wide-awake  church  will  find 
some  opportunity  for  service  in  its  own 
community : 
Equipping  one   or  more  rooms  in  the 

[194] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

church  which  shall  be  open  to  the  various 
clubs  in  the  community  for  club  purposes. 

Installing  a  pool  table,  a  bowling  alley 
and  tables  for  other  games. 

Organizing  a  brass  or  string  band  to  give 
free  entertainments  in  the  church  itself  or 
on  the  church  steps  or  lawn  on  frequent 
occasions. 

Assuming  responsibility  for  the  teaching 
of  wholesome,  helpful  games  that  may  be 
played  in  the  home  and  outside  of  the  home, 
but  in  close  connection  with  it;  providing 
hours  and  places  of  amusement  where  chil- 
dren and  parents  can  play  together. 

Supplying  volunteer  helpers  to  the  com- 
munity's recreational  agencies,  such  as  the 
playground  association. 

Helping  to  organize  and  promote  play 
in  the  streets.  This  kind  of  work  can  be 
successfully  done  by  having  one  or  more  of 
the  young  men  of  the  church  get  acquainted 
with  the  people  in  a  congested  neighborhood 
and  in  an  informal  way  visit  them  some 
warm  evening  when  they  are  sitting  on  the 

[195] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

front  porch  or  standing  about  on  the  street. 
In  several  places  this  has  been  successfully 
done.  Without  becoming  officious,  a  visitor 
has  simply  suggested  a  game  and  in  an  off- 
handed sort  of  way  started  it  and  soon  had 
all  the  people  interested.  In  every  instance 
the  one  who  has  organized  the  street  play 
has  been  invited  to  return  and  in  every  case 
has  become  a  great  favorite  with  the  people. 

Providing  tennis  courts  and  baseball 
diamonds. 

Arranging  with  the  city  authorities  for 
side  walks  in  certain  blocks  to  be  open  for 
roller  skating  or  coasting. 

Promoting  church  athletics,  baseball,  bas- 
ketball, volley  ball  leagues  and  offering  a 
banner  or  a  prize  for  the  best  athletic  club. 

Maintaining  boating,  yachting  and  fishing 
clubs  in  communities  adjacent  to  navigable 
water. 

Arranging  for  summer  camps  and  camp- 
ing trips. 

Planning  tramping  trips  under  right 
guidance  and  direction  for  groups  of  dif- 

1196] 


.  to 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

ferent  ages  in  the  church.  One  church  that 
has  made  a  success  of  this  kind  of  work 
arranges  a  tramping  trip  to  some  place  for 
every  Saturday  afternoon  during  the  year. 
The  names  of  the  members  of  this  tramping 
club  are  printed  in  a  pamphlet  and  the  pro- 
gram of  the  tramping  trips  laid  out  at  the 
beginning  of  the  season.  A  diary  of  the 
club  is  kept  by  one  of  the  members;  pic- 
tures are  taken  of  the  various  trips  and  dur- 
ing the  winter  time  many  a  pleasant  and 
happy  evening  is  spent  living  over  again  the 
incidents  of  the  past  summer. 

Securing  a  lease  upon  vacant  lots  in  the 
community  and  providing  the  means  and 
direction  to  the  young  people  for  gardening. 

Providing  an  adequate  program  for  the 
celebration  of  the  various  holidays  by  pag- 
eants, entertainments,  picnics  and  such  other 
exercises  as  appeal  to  the  good  judgment  of 
the  church. 

Cooperating  in  promoting  the  Boy  Scout 
activities,  paying  special  attention  to  the 
social  fraternal  features  of  the  work  and 

[197] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

eliminating  everything  from  the  movement 
that  tends  to  foster  a  love  of  militarism. 

Organizing  and  maintaining  Camp  Fire 
groups  for  girls. 

Helping  to  provide  some  form  of  recre- 
ation for  the  community  on  Sunday  after- 
noons. This  is  one  of  the  greatest  oppor- 
tunities offered  to  the  church  today.  All 
forms  of  commercial  recreation  ought  to  be 
closed  on  Sunday.  Ball  games  where  ad- 
mission price  is  paid  should  not  be  tolerated. 
In  congested  districts  where  large  numbers 
of  children  would  have  to  spend  most  of  the 
day  in  idleness  on  the  streets  if  it  were  not 
for  the  playground,  there  can  be  no  reason- 
able objection  to  the  playgrounds  being 
opened  and  other  play  facilities  offered. 
When  strict  Sabbath  laws  are  enforced 
thousands  of  people  wander  up  and  down 
the  streets  with  nothing  to  do  and  usually 
fall  in  with  suggestions  of  evil.  In  an  east- 
em  city  the  old  blue  laws  were  enforced 
very  strictly.  Ten  miles  distant  was  a  sub- 
urban town  that  was  not  so  exacting.    The 

[198] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

moving  picture  shows  and  two  dance-halls 
were  running  all  Sunday  afternoon  and  late 
into  the  night.  From  twelve  noon  until  nine 
o'clock  at  night  in  the  summer  time  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  get  a  seat  on  the  trains 
running  out  of  this  city,  and  from  nine 
o'clock  until  midnight  it  was  impossible  to 
get  a  seat  on  the  trains  coming  in  from  the 
suburban  town.  The  people  in  this  city 
were  not  doing  their  duty.  Their  attitude 
was  wholly  negative.  If  they  were  con- 
vinced that  the  door  of  the  ordinary  recrea- 
tional opportunities  should  be  closed  on 
Sunday  afternoon,  they  owed  it  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  community  to  provide  some  w^ay 
in  which  they  could  spend  their  time  in  clean, 
healthful,  safe  enjoyment  of  the  day.  In 
Houston,  Texas,  a  definite  effort  was  made 
to  meet  such  a  situation.  The  largest  hall 
in  the  city  was  opened  to  the  people  and  free 
entertainments  and  music  furnished.  This 
plan  has  been  tried  in  other  places,  and 
everywhere  it  has  been  tried  it  has  proved 
successful.    Parks  and  playgrounds  as  they 

[199] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

have  been  opened  to  the  people  on  Sunday 
have  been  utilized  and  always  to  the  good 
of  the  community.  There  are  a  variety  of 
ways  to  meet  the  needs  for  Sunday  recrea- 
tion. Whatever  is  done  must  be  done  with 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  and 
with  a  view  to  the  sentiment  as  well  as  the 
needs  of  the  community.  Let  a  church  do 
any  or  all  of  the  following: 

Urge,  work  for  and  demand  in  the  name 
of  humanity  the  Saturday  half  holiday  for 
all  the  people. 

Organize  a  group  of  the  base  ball  enthusi- 
asts in  the  church  and  together  rent  one  of 
the  large  boxes  at  the  league  base  ball  park. 
Let  this  be  known  as  the  box  belonging  to 
the  local  church.  Other  organizations  fol- 
low this  plan  and  their  members  always 
sit  together  at  the  games.  Why  not  the 
church? 

Offer  the  church  building  and  its  facili- 
ties to  the  community  as  a  place  for  in- 
forming the  community  as  to  its  recrea- 
tional  needs    and   emphasize    these   needs 

[200] 


A   PROGRAM   FOR    THE    CHURCH 

through  public  addresses,  entertainments 
and  pictures. 

Install  a  stereopticon  and  moving  picture 
machine  if  possible  and  utilize  this  popular 
form  of  amusement. 

Organize  a  dramatic  league  in  the  church, 
teach  the  principles  underlying  the  best  in 
the  drama,  and  in  arranging  to  give  fre- 
quent exhibitions  during  the  year,  give  all 
of  the  people  in  the  church  the  opportunity 
of  taking  part  in  the  various  plays  that  are 
presented.  The  Missionary  Education 
Movement  of  the  United  States  and  Canada 
publish  high  grade  plays  and  missionary 
pageants  that  may  be  used  in  the  churches 
to  good  advantage. 

Equip  a  gymnasium  in  connection  with 
the  church.  Provide  classes  and  instruction 
either  in  the  church  or  through  the  church 
agencies  in  cooperation  with  the  Y.M.C.A. 
and  other  local  institutions. 

Finally,  the  most  important  thing  of  all 
is  for  the  church  to  come  to  an  intelligent 
understanding  with  the  community  as  to  its 

[201] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

own  attitude  and  sympathies.  No  com- 
munity can  succeed  in  meeting  the  recrea- 
tional demands  of  the  people  unless  there  be 
some  clearly  thought  out  and  definitely  ac- 
cepted program  for  play  which  will  meet 
the  requirements  of  all  the  people  as  it  does 
the  demands  of  the  whole  individual.  The 
church  will  be  of  the  greatest  value  in  help- 
ing to  formulate  the  standard,  create  a  pro- 
gram and  make  it  effective.  This  will  mean 
a  hearty  appreciation  of  the  whole  commu- 
nity and  its  needs ;  sympathy  for  its  failings 
and  a  willingness  to  help  create  a  better 
understanding  of  the  various  elements  mak- 
ing up  our  complex  democracy. 

The  responsibility  of  the  church  does  not 
stop  with  its  community.  We  must  learn  to 
think  in  terms  of  the  community,  then  edu- 
cate the  cormnunity  to  think  in  terms  of  the 
state,  and  the  state  in  terms  of  the  nation. 
Outside  of  their  own  specialized  field  the 
churches  in  every  community  ought  to  feel 
that  they  are  a  part  of  the  national  move- 
ments which  are  reconstructing  the  play  life 

[202] 


A   PROGRAM    FOR    THE    CHURCH 

of  the  people,  helping  them  to  secure  more 
of  the  joy  of  living  which  is  the  birthright  of 
every  individual. 


[203] 


VIII 

RESULTS  ATTAINED  AND 
ATTAINABLE 


CHAPTER   VIII 

RESULTS  ATTAINED  AND 
ATTAINABLE 

It  is  well  known  that  John  Wesley  was 
a  lover  of  all  kinds  of  literature  and  espe- 
cially of  the  drama.  He  read  the  Greek  and 
English  dramatists  and  advised  his  preach- 
ers to  study  them  both  for  the  help  and  for 
the  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  them.  He 
never  attended  the  theater  but  he  clearly 
stated  his  attitude  toward  the  question  of 
popular  amusements.  After  declaring  that 
he  did  not  attend  the  theater  or  play  cards 
he  says:  "Possibly  others  can.  I  am  not 
obliged  to  pass  any  sentence  on  those  who 
are  otherwise  minded.  I  leave  them  to  their 
own  Master.  To  Him  let  them  stand  or 
fall."  The  churches  generally  are  coming 
to  accept  this  as  a  proper  attitude.    But  it 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

is  not  enough.  The  church  must  help  to 
form  the  standard  of  tastes.  Its  attitude 
must  be  positive,  not  uncertain  nor  negative. 
It  is  encouraging  to  note  that  in  hundreds 
of  communities  churches  are  expressing  pos- 
itive interest  in  unmistakable  ways.  Social 
centers,  playgrounds,  and  other  public  in- 
stitutions for  providing  means  of  play  are 
being  heartily  supported  by  the  churches. 

The  interest  of  the  church  in  play  is  not 
however  limited  to  its  interest  in  these  public 
movements.  More  and  more  it  is  establish- 
ing and  making  effective  institutional  plans 
for  meeting  the  play  problems  of  the  com- 
munity. In  discussing  the  results  that  are 
being  achieved  by  the  church  it  is  right  to 
include  the  work  of  those  agencies  that  are 
directly  connected  with  or  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  church,  such  as  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  and  church  social 
settlements. 

An  inquiry  was  sent  out  recently  to  a 
large  number  of  cities  throughout  the  coun- 

[208] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

try  regarding  the  play  facilities  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  activities  of  the  church  in  rela- 
tion thereto.  The  reports  received  indicate 
that  the  opportunities  provided  are  totally 
inadequate  to  the  need.  In  the  largest  num- 
ber of  cases  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation church  clubs  and  public  play- 
grounds furnish  the  chief  means  for  play. 
The  schools  are  being  used  more  and  more 
for  recreational  purposes,  many  of  the  newer 
buildings  being  equipped  with  gymnasium 
and  game  rooms. 

The  answer  from  one  city  is  typical  of 
conditions  found  in  the  best  of  them,  al- 
though it  has  gone  further  in  shaping  a 
program  than  have  many  of  the  others. 
The  school  authorities  and  park  department 
of  this  city  provide  ample  playgrounds  and 
swimming  pools  for  use  during  the  summer, 
with  gymnasium  classes  in  the  winter.  The 
schools  have  baseball,  basketball  and  com- 
munity clubs.  These  facilities  are  all  sup- 
ported by  the  city.  The  playgrounds  are 
equipped  with  the  usual  apparatus  and  are 

[209] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

closely  supervised  so  that  the  language  and 
conduct  of  the  children  are  always  under 
observation.  The  play  is  graded,  there 
being  games  provided  for  different  ages  and 
for  both  boys  and  girls.  Among  the  schools 
there  has  been  developed  an  athletic  league 
and  an  annual  field  day  is  held  at  which  the 
teams  from  the  various  schools  compete  with 
each  other.  The  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  the  churches  furnish  most 
of  the  directors  who  are  employed  by  the 
city.  The  Boy's  Club  is  strong  and  has 
recently  built  a  new  club  house  thoroughly 
equipped  for  play  and  instructions  and  has 
an  efficient  corps  of  workers  under  the  direc- 
tion of  a  competent  superintendent  who  is 
paid  by  the  city  and  is  also  one  of  the  pro- 
bation officers  of  the  local  juvenile  court. 
These  recreational  opportunities  are  thor- 
oughly appreciated  by  the  people.  The 
playgrounds  and  the  buildings  used  as  a 
social  center  are  crowded.  Opinions  differ 
but  the  tendency  is  toward  a  more  demo- 
cratic control  of  play  and  the  widest  use  of 

[210] 


RESULTS   ATTAINABLE 

the  facilities  offered.  The  churches  in  the 
city,  with  the  exception  of  two  are  composed 
of  the  well-to-do  class  of  people.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  poorer  churches,  one  of  which  is 
supported  by  a  well-to-do  up-town  church, 
use  the  play  facilities  that  are  offered  by  the 
city,  while  the  other  churches  report  that 
their  members  are  not  so  much  dependent 
upon  these  places,  many  of  them  finding 
their  amusement  at  the  theaters  and  at 
dances  given  by  their  various  sets,  the  coun- 
try club,  a  boat  club  or  through  other  means 
provided  by  private  and  commercial  enter- 
prises. The  pastor  of  one  of  the  leading 
churches  in  this  city  thinks  that  social  lines 
are  drawn  as  closely  in  the  matter  of  play 
as  in  any  other  matter  pertaining  to  the 
social  life  of  the  people. 

The  playgrounds  in  this  city  have  been 
productive  of  the  utmost  good.  "They  have 
helped  to  reduce  hoodlumism  and  conse- 
quently petty  crime  and  misdemeanors  are 
not  so  frequent  as  formerly."  The  churches 
have  had  an  important  part  in  helping  to 

[211] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

provide  these  excellent  play  facilities.  The 
federation  of  men's  clubs  set  on  foot  the 
movement  looking  to  the  larger  use  of  the 
school  buildings  as  social  centers.  When 
the  plan  was  under  way  the  whole  manage- 
ment was  turned  over  to  the  school  authori- 
ties, yet  even  today  the  clubs  back  up  the 
plan  by  their  influence  and  the  officers 
charged  with  the  active  work  of  promoting 
these  centers  are  all  vitally  interested  in 
church  work.  Outside  of  this  general  activ- 
ity in  promoting  play  and  making  it  possi- 
ble, the  churches  have  maintained  a  social 
service  league,  various  clubs,  and  organiza- 
tions for  the  boys  and  girls,  have  provided 
outings,  and  arranged  group  and  neighbor- 
hood meetings.  No  effort  has  been  made 
to  censor  the  theaters  or  to  deal  with  the 
problem  of  the  dance. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  among 
the  church  people  as  to  the  value  of  this 
kind  of  work.  Some  of  the  churches  have 
unwisely  looked  upon  every  play  facil- 
ity offered  to  the  people  as  a  means  of 

[212] 


CARDING  CONTEST 

Arranged  in  connection  with  the  White  Rock  Fair,  North  Carolina,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

increasing  the  attendance  at  the  Sunday- 
school  and  church  services,  and  have  meas- 
ured the  success  of  every  undertaking  in 
terms  of  the  increased  enrolhnent  in  the 
church  and  Sunday-school.  A  few  of  the 
ministers  believe  in  furnishing  a  variety  of 
interests  for  the  young  people  but  deeply 
deprecate  any  thing  which  does  not  show 
evidence  of  a  positive  good. 

In  relation  to  Sunday  amusements  one 
community  reports :  "The  church  going  peo- 
ple are  opposed  to  anything  that  would  very 
materially  change  the  nature  of  the  day  from 
the  old  fashioned  Puritan  Sabbath."  It  was 
reported  that  in  one  of  these  cities  the  reli- 
gious people  were  utterly  indifferent  to  this 
matter;  in  another  that  the  people  were  apa- 
thetic or  lacking  in  sympathy.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  secure  accurate  figures  as  to  the 
number  of  people  in  the  various  cities  who 
attend  the  Sunday  dances.  The  churches 
recognize  that  there  is  a  large  problem  raised 
by  the  question  of  Sunday  amusements,  but 
as  yet  in  no  city  have  they  been  able  to 

[218] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

meet  this  problem  adequately  and  solve  it 
without  raising  so  much  discussion  and 
opposition  that  it  has  seemed  wise  not  to 
attempt  even  those  things  that  might  be  of 
help. 

The  report  from  still  another  city  is  sig- 
nificant as  it  represents  quite  a  different 
situation.  This  city  has  a  population  of 
about  22,000.  It  is  a  manufacturing  town 
of  diversified  interests  and  the  people  are  of 
mixed  races.  It  is  well  located  and  has 
every  opportunity  for  growth  in  commercial 
and  social  importance  but  for  a  long  period 
of  years  there  has  been  no  growth  in  popu- 
lation. Wages  are  good ;  working  conditions 
are  favorable  for  the  most  part,  and  there 
have  been  no  labor  troubles;  the  school 
houses  of  the  town  are  well  built  and  its 
churches,  of  which  there  are  the  average 
number  found  in  places  of  this  size,  are  at- 
tractive and  well  attended.  In  the  matter 
of  play  facilities  there  is  one  theater  which 
caters  to  all  classes,  presenting  serious 
drama,  English  grand  opera,  comic  opera, 

[2U] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

vaudeville,  minstrels  and  motion  picture 
shows.  On  Sunday  this  theater  presents  a 
vaudeville  show,  although  this  is  contrary 
to  the  state  law.  There  are  seven  motion 
picture  shows,  the  best  of  which  is  very  good 
and  the  worst  cannot  be  called  bad.  They 
are  all  maintained  in  a  decent,  orderly  way. 
All  of  these  shows  are  open  on  Sunday. 
Nearby  there  is  a  famous  watering  place 
which  attracts  thousands  in  the  summer 
months.  This  resort  is  easily  accessible  by 
ferry.  There  is  a  splendid  beach  here. 
Formerly  a  great  deal  of  liquor  was  sold 
at  the  place  but  it  has  improved  in  this  re- 
spect in  late  years.  The  management  is  not 
vicious  but  is  simply  looking  after  the  dol- 
lars. The  best  people  in  the  town  patronize 
the  resort.  There  is  no  cheap  vaudeville,  no 
open  immorality.  The  worst  feature  grows 
out  of  the  abuse  of  the  wide  reaches  of  beach 
adjacent  to  the  resort,  and  of  the  woods 
which  extend  down  to  the  very  edge  of  the 
water  and  which  are  neither  lighted  nor 
patrolled  at  night.  The  management  of  this 

1215] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

3resort  was  appealed  to  and  has  cooperated 
very  heartily  with  the  authorities  of  the  city 
in  helping  get  rid  of  gambling  and  dancing 
and  in  giving  better  protection  to  the  girls 
and  women,  especially  to  its  own  employees. 
It  is  significant  that  the  moral  tone  has  been 
rising  dm'ing  the  last  half  dozen  years.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  season  train  loads  of  excur- 
sionists come  from  distant  points  and  bring 
thousands  of  merry-makers  to  spend  Sun- 
day at  the  lake.  The  bay  around  which  the 
city  is  built  affords  unusual  boating  facilities 
and  is  largely  used.  Skating  and  ice  boat- 
ing are  enjoyed  during  the  winter  months. 
The  city  is  fortunately  laid  out  in  a  triangu- 
lar arrangement  with  abundant  recreation 
parks  for  tennis,  football,  baseball  and 
other  sports  which  are  open  and  free  to  the 
public.  An  attempt  to  secure  a  public  play- 
ground failed.  There  is  no  Young  Men*s 
Christian  Association  or  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association.  The  Business  Girl's 
Christian  Association,  however,  provides 
gymnasium  classes  in  connection  with  other 

[216] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

features  in  the  church  basement  which  they 
rent  and  where  they  hold  weekly  meetings. 
A  kindergarten  is  maintained  in  connection 
with  a  local  Episcopal  church.  The  new 
high  school  building  is  equipped  with  a  gym- 
nasium. No  investigation  has  been  made  of 
the  dance-halls  of  the  city.  The  latest 
dances  are  taught  and  it  is  claimed  by  some 
persons  that  they  are  danced  in  a  modest 
manner.  There  is  no  unanimous  verdict  on 
this  question  however,  for  when  asked  re- 
garding a  dance  that  was  conducted  by  a 
group  of  decent  fellows  one  girl  said:  "I 
would  not  like  to  be  caught  dead  on  the  floor 
of  that  hall."  In  fact  no  one  in  the  city 
seems  to  have  any  accurate  information  as 
to  the  actual  conditions.  The  saloons  do  a 
good  business.  The  enforcement  of  the  new 
state  law  which  limits  the  number  of  saloons 
to  one  to  each  five  hundred  of  the  popula- 
tion put  fifty-five  of  the  saloons  out  of  busi- 
ness. Sunday  closing  is  now  observed  for 
the  first  time  in  a  number  of  years.  There 
are  two  large  breweries  in  the  town  and  five 

[217] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

wineries.  There  are  plenty  of  pool-rooms 
and  bowling-alleys  frequently  connected 
with  the  cheaper  grade  of  saloons.  The 
number  of  pool-rooms  have  increased  since 
some  of  the  saloons  were  closed.  The  roller 
skating  rink  has  a  good  patronage.  There 
is  a  club  in  the  town,  with  a  well  appointed 
but  modest  club-house,  having  a  membership 
of  about  two  hundred  of  the  leading  men 
of  the  city.  Cards,  billiards  and  pool  are 
the  principal  games.  There  is  a  reading 
room,  dining-room  and  guest-rooms.  No 
liquor  is  sold,  but  members  are  allowed  to 
keep  liquor  in  their  lockers.  No  games  are 
allowed  on  Sunday.  This  club  opens  its 
doors  for  women's  card  parties  and  recep- 
tions. These  functions  are  patronized  by 
the  families  of  the  members  and  their 
friends.  Secret  orders  are  strong  and  nearly 
all  of  them  maintain  club  rooms.  All  of  the 
play  facilities  of  the  city  are  maintained  by 
private  enterprise  except  the  public  parks  in 
which  band  concerts  are  occasionally  held. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  people  avail  them- 

1218] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

selves  of  the  opportunities  offered  by  the 
various  places  of  amusements.  Church  peo- 
ple patronize  all  of  these  places,  though 
there  are  a  few  exceptions.  The  outdoor 
features  of  the  amusements  offered  are  im- 
doubtedly  good;  the  only  question  to  be 
raised  is  in  regard  to  Sunday  observance. 
The  indoor  features  shade  all  the  way  from 
good  to  very  bad.  The  two  largest  Catholic 
parishes  have  audience  rooms  in  their  parish 
buildings  and  here  amateur  theatricals  are 
given  by  the  young  people.  One  of  the 
Protestant  churches  has  a  small  gymnasium 
and  conducts  classes.  During  the  winter  a 
lyceum  course  has  been  managed  under 
church  auspices.  Occasional  game  days  are 
provided  for  the  children  of  younger  age. 
The  boys  are  cared  for  by  the  churches 
through  such  organizations  as  the  Knights  of 
St.  Paul  and  by  the  Boy  Scout  movement. 
Various  cooperative  organizations  have  at- 
tempted to  institute  a  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  but  so  far  without  success. 
Inter-church  relations  exist  on  a  small  scale. 

I  219  J 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

If  the  churches  had  been  asked  some  of  them 
would  have  helped  in  the  movement  made 
for  the  establishment  of  playgrounds,  for 
all  the  churches,  excepting  one  or  two,  are 
heartily  in  sympathy  with  this  kind  of  out- 
door recreation.  The  playground  move- 
ment, which  proved  abortive,  shows  that  a 
new  conscience  is  being  developed  and  that 
recreation  is  coming  to  be  considered  as  a 
real  community  interest.  If  the  old  settlers 
had  not  argued  so  strenuously  against  the 
playground  on  the  basis  that  the  natural 
advantages  offered  by  the  bay  and  its  ade- 
quate beaches  made  the  establishment  of  a 
playgroimd  foolish,  the  organization  would 
have  been  completed  and  the  playgroimd 
secured.  A  movement  toward  the  establish- 
ment of  free  public  bathing  beaches  has  so 
far  proved  a  failure  probably  on  account  of 
the  influence  of  the  Resort  Company.  There 
is  no  united  position  on  the  question  of  play 
maintained  by  the  ministers.  Apparently 
the  churches  have  not  been  able  to  come  to 
any  conclusion  as  to  what  constitutes  right 

[220] 


RESULTS   ATTAINABLE 

and  wrong  in  the  matter  of  the  people's  play. 
"The  ideas  range  all  the  way  from  the  decent 
continental  Catholic  type  to  the  strictest 
Puritan  type."  There  is  no  common  gromid. 
The  idea  of  a  community  of  interest  in  this 
matter  has  evidently  never  made  its  appeal. 
"There  are  at  least  three  communities.  The 
minds  of  the  mass  of  the  people  are  liberal 
to  a  fault,  while  the  influential  church  mem- 
bers are  tinctured  with  liberalism  but  on  the 
whole  follow  the  rather  narrow  Puritan 
ideal.  A  small  minority  in  the  churches  have 
a  well  balanced,  well  thought  out  attitude 
toward  this  important  question." 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
has  met  the  play  problem  in  a  straightfor- 
ward way  and  the  results  it  has  achieved 
ought  to  be  a  guide  to  the  churches  in  plan- 
ning for  future  developments.  The  first 
games  tried  in  the  association  buildings 
were  of  a  simple  kind,  and  yet  these  caused 
more  or  less  criticism.  It  took  some  time 
before  the  bowling  alley  would  be  tolerated. 
Then   followed   table   croquet  and   finally 

[221] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

some  of  the  more  progressive  associations 
installed  pool  and  billiard  tables.  The  pro- 
test against  these  gradually  lessened  imtil 
today  it  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that 
most  of  the  well  equipped  associations  have 
these  splendid  games,  and  the  interesting 
thing  is  that,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  no  as- 
sociation has  ever  found  the  pool  table  any- 
thing but  a  help  and  no  association  has  ever 
taken  it  out  after  once  installing  it.  The 
testimony  of  practically  all  of  these  organ- 
izations is  the  same  as  that  expressed  by 
the  following  reports : 

"We  installed  pool  and  billiard  tables  in 
our  building  about  four  years  ago.  There 
was  some  opposition  at  the  time  and  there 
are  still  some  church  members  in  the  city 
who  do  not  agree  with  our  policy,  but  our 
experience  has  so  fully  justified  their  instal- 
lation that  we  would  consider  our  equipment 
very  incomplete  without  them.  All  young 
men  like  to  play  games,  and  pool  and  bil- 
liards are  practically  the  only  games  of  an 
indoor  character  that  appeal  to  red-blooded 

[222] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

young  men.  This  whole  question  of  pool 
and  billiard  tables  is  largely  a  matter  of 
supervision  and  we  have  always  had  a  uni- 
versity student  for  an  attendant.  In  select- 
ing men  for  this  job  we  look  for  more  than 
the  ordinary  pool  table  attendant.  We  are 
just  as  careful  in  selecting  him  as  we  are 
when  we  secure  a  man  for  any  secretarial 
position.  Keeping  the  right  man  in  the  pool 
room  has  solved  the  question  of  discipline 
and  evil  influences.  The  very  presence  of 
this  man  gives  the  room  a  tone  which  does 
not  admit  of  any  other  atmosphere  than  the 
best." 

"Personally  I  was  very  much  prejudiced 
against  the  use  of  these  games  by  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  but  my  expe- 
rience has  entirely  removed  this  prejudice 
and  we  are  able  to  draw  into  the  building 
a  group  of  men  who  otherwise  would  take 
no  interest  in  the  activities.  The  only  argu- 
ment I  have  ever  heard  against  the  game 
is  that  it  will  teach  young  men  to  play  who 
will  then  visit  other  pool  and  billiard  rooms 

[228] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

where  the  standards  are  low.  Neither  my 
experience  nor  my  observation  have  led  me 
to  note  any  such  case  as  this." 

"We  have  conducted  a  pool  and  billiard 
room  in  our  present  building  for  the  past 
eight  years.  Before  the  tables  were  put  in 
we  called  a  meeting  of  all  the  Protestant 
ministers  in  our  section  of  the  city  and  dis- 
cussed the  matter  very  frankly  with  them 
and  then  asked  their  opinion  as  to  whether 
or  not  they  thought  it  wise  for  us  to  open 
such  a  room.  Every  minister  but  one  voted 
in  favor  of  our  putting  them  in.  The  tables 
have  had  a  very  general  usage  ever  since 
they  were  put  in.  We  have  no  smoking  in 
the  room  and  the  social  tone  is  splendid. 
We  were  quite  surprised  when  the  billiard 
room  was  opened  to  find  that  it  was  not 
necessary  to  teach  any  of  the  hoys  to  play 
pool  and  billiards.  They  had  all  been  play- 
ing in  public  pool  rooms  and  were  pretty 
well  versed  in  the  matter.  We  find  that  the 
room  provides  a  splendid  social  feature  and 
that  many  of  our  members  who  formerly 

[224] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

played  in  the  pool  rooms  connected  with  the 
saloons  now  play  here." 

"We  have  pool  and  billiard  tables  in  our 
building.  There  was  some  opposition  when 
we  put  them  in  but  we  have  none  at  the 
present  time.  They  are  generally  used  and 
it  is  keeping  a  large  number  of  our  boys  in 
the  building  by  having  them.  I  believe  it 
has  made  some  difference  in  the  lives  of  the 
young  men  in  our  community,  especially  the 
boys  coming  out  of  high  school,  by  playing 
here.  It  keeps  them  away  from  the  cheaper 
pool  and  billiard  halls." 

"We  have  four  pool  tables  and  two  bil- 
liard tables.  They  were  put  into  our  Asso- 
ciation about  four  years  ago.  There  was 
some  opposition  on  the  part  of  a  few  but 
this  has  been  practically  overcome.  The 
tables  are  not  in  my  opinion  absolutely  es- 
sential to  the  life  of  the  young  men  in  the 
association  but  they  add  much  to  it.  Their 
use  is  quite  general  during  the  noon  and 
evening  hours  when  men  are  free  from  their 
work.    It  has  made  some  difference  in  the 

[225] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

social  life  of  the  association  but  of  course 
this  small  effect  in  a  large  city  like  this  would 
not  have  any  great  marked  influence  on  the 
life  of  the  community.  The  sum  total  of 
opinion  with  us  is  that  they  are  a  good  thing 
when  carefully  supervised  and  helpful  rather 
than  detrimental  to  the  moral  life  of  young 
men." 

"We  have  eight  branches  in  all  in  which 
we  have  billiard  tables.  In  the  four  boys' 
branches  we  have  a  special  rule  that  only 
boys  eighteen  years  of  age  and  up  shall  use 
the  billiard  tables.  Other  games  are  pro- 
vided for  younger  boys.  In  all  but  one  of 
these  branches  the  billiard  tables  are  in  very 
great  demand,  and  the  exception  is  caused 
by  the  room  being  too  small  so  that  there 
are  too  few  tables  and  they  are  too  crowded. 
There  has  been  no  serious  opposition  after 
the  clergymen  and  some  others  who  were 
doubtful  have  seen  the  billiard  rooms  in 
operation.  When  our  associations  organ- 
ized and  built  gymnasiums  a  generation  ago 
we  were  ardently  discouraged  in  the  attempt 

[226] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

because  a  great  many  good  men  said  that 
gymnasiums  were  in  the  hands  of  prize- 
fighting gangs  and  no  good  could  come  but 
only  evil  to  us  through  attempting  to  con- 
duct a  gymnasium.  We  took  the  gymna- 
sium, lifted  it  out  of  its  bad  environment, 
sanitated  it  and  made  it  a  source  of  moral 
and  religious  influence.  We  are  doing  the 
same  thing  with  billiards — a  game  in  which 
there  is  no  intrinsic  evil,  a  clean  game  and 
a  beautiful  game.  It  is  played  in  our  build- 
ings entirely  free  from  gambling,  profanity 
and  tobacco.  Billiard  rooms  hke  gymna- 
siums must  be  supervised.  There  is  hardly 
anything  more  fruitless  or  deadly  in  a  com- 
munity than  a  gymnasium  or  billiard  room 
without  expert  supervision.  This  costs 
money.  Churches,  clubs  and  associations 
too  often  force  themselves  to  leam  the  bit- 
ter lesson  that  the  putting  in  of  equipment 
does  not  solve  but  may  complicate  the  prob- 
lem. Personality  is  as  important  as  facilities 
and  facilities  are  positively  dangerous  with- 
out leadership." 

[227] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

"We  have  numerous  pool  and  billiard 
tables  in  our  men's  and  boys'  departments. 
There  was  practically  no  opposition  to  their 
installation.  So  far  as  I  know  there  is  no 
criticism  against  their  use.  The  tables  are 
extensively  used." 

"As  near  as  I  can  remember  we  put  in  our 
first  pool  table  in  our  building  about  ten 
years  ago  and  at  that  time  there  was  a  Httle 
opposition  from  some  quarters,  but  I  believe 
the  day  of  objection  to  those  things,  espe- 
cially in  a  large  city,  has  passed  away.  We 
consider  both  the  billiard  room  and  the  bowl- 
ing alleys  a  necessary  part  of  an  up-to-date 
equipment  in  a  building  of  this  size.  We 
have  constant  supervision  of  our  outfit  and 
endeavor  to  keep  our  equipment  in  the 
finest  possible  condition.  The  rates  we 
charge  are  about  half  what  they  are  in  a 
regular  pool  room.  Our  room  is  filled 
most  every  day  at  certain  times  but  we 
are  not  making  much  from  it  financially. 
Of  course  it  is  a  great  social  factor  and 
we  find  that  lots  of  these  things  must  be 

[228] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

conducted  even  though  there  is  not  much 
money  in  them." 

Of  course  no  one  supposes  that  because 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has 
put  in  pool  tables  that  of  necessity  they  are 
solving  the  community's  recreational  prob- 
lems. They  are  however  making  an  advance 
and  the  spirit  that  leads  them  to  take  this 
step  promises  greater  things  and  a  more 
aggressive  interest  in  the  community  welfare 
in  days  to  come. 

In  Brooklyn  the  Men's  League  in  one  of 
the  largest  churches  cooperates  loyally  with 
the  local  park  and  play-ground  association, 
and  last  summer  helped  in  a  movement  for 
more  adequate  recreation  piers.  In  one  of 
the  largest  cities  of  the  middle  west  a  strong 
church  has  helped  maintain  play-grounds  in 
the  city.  In  fact  this  church  furnished  the 
first  inspiration  for  this  undertaking  and 
since  its  inception  has  furnished  most  of  the 
money  to  carry  it  on.  These  things  indicate 
a  vital  interest.  A  good  start  has  been  made. 
In  the  country  communities  especially,  the 

[229] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

churches  are  coming  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  cannot  possibly  solve  the  rural  life 
problem  without  an  adequate  provision  for 
social  and  recreational  opportunities.  A 
well  rounded  life  is  just  as  possible  in  the 
open  country  as  in  the  centers  of  popula- 
tion, provided  the  social,  educational  and 
religious  advantages  be  equal  in  the  two 
places.  A  little  church  at  a  cross  roads  right 
out  in  the  midst  of  the  open  country  has  been 
working  for  a  number  of  years  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  conmiunity.  It  has  laid  out  an 
athletic  field  with  baseball  diamonds,  basket 
ball  courts,  tennis  courts,  swings,  sand  piles 
and  other  playground  equipment  for  the 
younger  children.  During  the  winter  home- 
talent  entertainments  are  encouraged  and 
supported  enthusiastically.  The  agricultu- 
ral college  has  been  asked  to  cooperate  with 
the  church  and  has  sent  out  their  lecturers 
to  assist  on  the  lecture  and  music  course  that 
is  provided  under  the  auspices  of  the  church. 
An  annual  home-coming  week  has  been 
made  a  special  feature  of  the  year's  work. 

[280] 


RESULTS   ATTAINABLE 

Through  the  efforts  of  this  church  Saturday 
afternoon  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  a 
time  for  play  and  it  is  a  general  holiday  on 
all  the  farms  and  in  all  the  he  Ties.  At  this 
time  the  community  meets  in  contests 
of  baseball,  basketball  and  tennis  and  the 
local  teams  compete  with  the  teams  of  sur- 
rounding communities.  The  church  has  as- 
sumed the  leadership  of  all  the  recreational 
life  of  the  community  but  it  also  cooperates 
with  any  clean,  healthful  recreation  that 
may  be  offered  from  any  other  source.  The 
results  have  well  paid  for  the  effort  and  now 
this  church  is  looked  upon  as  the  natural 
center  of  the  community  life. 

In  Chicago,  Boston  and  several  other 
cities  the  Sunday-school  associations  have 
organized  and  successfully  managed  inter- 
church  baseball  leagues. 

In  a  community  of  another  sort  a  church 
has  taken  hold  of  a  bad  group  of  amusement 
opportunities  and  by  putting  in  better  things 
has  been  able  to  transform  the  attitude  of 
the  people  and  have  a  large  influence  over 

[281] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

the  life  of  the  small  city.  The  first  thing 
that  this  church  did  was  to  secure  the  coop- 
eration of  several  of  the  other  churches  and 
form  an  inter-church  athletic  association 
which  immediately  took  over  the  baseball 
games  and  since  that  time  they  have  been 
played  under  the  control  of  the  church  peo- 
ple. A  ball  field  was  rented  and  all  the 
expenses  paid  by  the  churches.  The  gate 
receipts  nearly  paid  the  bills.  The  result 
is  that  they  have  clean  baseball  without 
drunkenness  or  profanity  on  the  grounds. 
This  church  is  now  planning  to  finish  off 
its  basement  and  provide  a  game  room,  a 
bowling  alley  and  a  gymnasium.  As  this 
town  is  the  center  of  a  large  farming  com- 
munity and  many  of  the  country  people 
come  to  town  on  Saturday  the  church  has 
arranged  to  put  in  a  rest  and  reading  room 
in  its  building  that  may  be  used  by  the  coun- 
try people  with  the  privilege  of  making  cof- 
fee on  the  church  kitchen  range. 

Success  in  doing  this  work  is  measured  by 
the  success  of  the  local  church  and  it  is  here 

[282] 


RESULTS    ATTAINABLE 

we  find  the  need  of  leadership.  The  leader 
must  be  wise  as  well  as  efficient ;  must  know 
how  to  direct,  how  to  cooperate  and  some- 
times how  to  follow.  Failure  is  often  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  chm*ch  people  forget  that 
there  are  many  and  varied  interests  and  per- 
sonalities in  every  community.  The  true  aim 
ought  to  be  to  strengthen  everything  con- 
structive that  is  being  done  and  to  compete 
with  nothing  except  that  which  is  distinctly 
bad.  This  kind  of  effort  will  be  successful 
if  it  is  kept  simple  and  natural  and  respect- 
ful of  the  popular  ways  and  traditions. 


[288  J 


IX 

THE  CHURCH  A  SOCIAL 
CENTER 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  CHURCH  A  SOCIAL 
CENTER 

A  REAL  community  is  a  body  of  people 
having  certain  things  in  common;  who  are 
dependent  upon  each  other  for  their  means 
of  Hvehhood;  whose  interests  are  related; 
who  look  at  passing  events  from  the  same 
general  standpoint,  and  who  recognize  their 
dependence  one  upon  another  for  good  or 
evil.  The  full  idea  of  a  community  can  be 
developed  only  as  there  is  some  meeting 
place  where  through  fellowship,  study,  play 
and  worship  each  sharer  in  the  community 
life  learns  to  know  the  value  of  the  interests 
that  exist  in  common.  Under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances people  living  in  the  same  block 
or  neighborhood  come  to  know  each  other 
lodges,  our  work,  our  play,  being  diverse 
and  to  feel  an  interest  and  a  relation  in  each 
other's  affairs,  but  it  is  too  often  true  that 

[287] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

in  our  cities  and  rural  districts  the  things 
that  ought  to  bring  us  together  divide  us. 
Our  rehgion,  our  clubs,  our  societies,  our 
in  character,  tend  to  separation.  In  making 
the  changes,  therefore,  which  are  necessary- 
it  is  especially  important  that  there  should 
be  some  central  rallying  place,  where  all  the 
people  could  occasionally  meet  and  bring 
forward  their  interests  and  their  problems 
for  consideration.  Jane  Addams  says  it  is 
a  good  thing  for  us  to  get  out  occasionally 
on  the  highway  of  life  to  see  each  other's 
burdens  even  if  we  do  not  help  to  bear  them. 
President  Wilson  once  told  a  story  of  a 
woman  who,  though  very  fastidious,  was  of 
genial  good  nature,  whose  automobile  hap- 
pened to  be  stalled  one  night  in  front  of  a 
school  house  where  a  community  meeting 
was  going  on,  over  which  her  seamstress  was 
presiding.  She  was  induced  by  some  ac- 
quaintance whom  she  saw  going  into  the 
building  to  go  in  also,  and  was  at  first  filled 
with  disdain.  She  did  not  like  the  looks  of 
some  of  the  people ;  there  were  too  many  of 

[288] 


A   SOCIAL    CENTER 

the  sort  with  whom  she  did  not  care  to  asso- 
ciate; an  employee  of  her  own  was  presid- 
ing, but  she  was  obhged  to  remain  a  little 
while,  as  it  was  the  most  comfortable  place 
to  stay  while  her  automobile  was  being  re- 
paired. Before  she  could  get  away  she  had 
been  touched  with  the  generous  contagion  of 
the  place.  Here  were  people  of  all  sorts, 
talking  on  subjects  that  were  interesting 
and  that  revealed  to  her  things  of  which  she 
had  never  dreamed  in  regard  to  her  common 
vital  interests  with  persons  she  had  always 
thought  unHke  herself.  So  the  communal 
bond  of  human  hearts  was  revealed  to  her, 
and  she  realized  the  unity  of  human  life. 

It  is  generally  wise  to  utilize  the  public 
school  building  for  the  social  center  of  the 
community,  but  in  many  places  this  is  im- 
possible. The  church  is  then  offered  a  splen- 
did opportunity  for  this  kind  of  service, 
especially  in  rural  districts. 

A  little  village  in  eastern  Vermont  has  a 
population  of  about  four  hundred  persons 
and  about  one  hundred  apd  seven  families. 

[289] 


THE  CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

It  is  primarily  a  farming  community,  three- 
fifths  of  the  people  being  thus  employed. 
There  are,  however,  mills  in  the  town  which 
employ  about  one  hundred  men  and  women. 
The  farming  people  are  mostly  of  American 
stock;  the  mill  people  are  mostly  French. 
There  were  three  churches  in  the  community, 
two  Protestant  and  one  Catholic.  One  of 
the  Protestant  churches  was  so  weak  that 
finally  it  gave  up  and  the  other  church  pur- 
chased its  property.  Under  this  arrange- 
ment it  would  seem  that  there  was  a  fair 
chance  for  good  substantial  work,  but  the 
people  in  the  community  had  apparently 
lost  interest  in  and  respect  for  the  church 
as  an  institution.  There  were  less  than 
forty  resident  members  of  which  number 
not  more  than  one-half  could  be  depended 
upon.  The  only  organization  in  the  church 
having  any  life  was  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society. 
The  Sunday-school  struggled  along  with 
fifteen  or  twenty  children;  the  community 
was  torn  with  petty  bickerings  and  old 
jealousies.    Every  newcomer  to  town  was 

[240] 


A   SOCIAL   CENTER 

warned  of  the  sore  spots.  Families  living 
next  door  to  each  other  were  at  deadly 
enmity;  the  children  quarreled  and  fought, 
and  the  parents  would  not  speak  to  one 
another.  The  church  had  been  seeking  a 
pastor  for  months  but  without  success,  until 
finally  a  man  who  had  been  preaching  in  a 
nearby  town  in  a  much  stronger  church 
thought  he  saw  an  opportunity  and  accepted 
this  field  of  labor.  He  found  it  a  good  place 
for  hard  work  but  with  very  little  for  en- 
couragement. It  seemed  impossible  to  get 
any  cooperation  in  anything  that  he  at- 
tempted. The  church  had  dwelt  upon  its 
own  needs  so  long  that  it  had  become  thor- 
oughly self-centered.  It  was  not  interested 
in  the  community  except  in  so  far  as  the 
community  could  minister  to  its  success  as 
an  institution.  The  pastor's  one  ambition 
was  to  make  this  church  a  social  center. 
Having  studied  the  situation,  the  first  at- 
tempt he  made  was  to  organize  the  boys. 
A  branch  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  was   formed.     It  was  found, 

£2411 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

however,  that  some  of  the  boys  were  not 
"evangelical"  and  consequently  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  excluded  them. 
To  obviate  this  difficulty,  the  institution  was 
recognized  as  a  boys'  branch,  and  young  men 
between  nineteen  and  twenty-seven  good 
naturedly  took  cards  and  had  just  as  good 
a  time  as  if  they  were  members  of  the  reg- 
ular Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
This  church  used  its  own  building  for  wor- 
ship and  remodeled  that  of  the  other  congre- 
gation for  use  as  a  parish  house.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  met  there.  The 
first  winter  season  proved  a  good  one  and 
closed  with  thirty-seven  members.  The  boys 
made  their  own  rules  regulating  their  con- 
duct. There  were  only  three:  "No  swear- 
ing, no  smoking  and  no  'rough  house,'  "  and 
only  once  was  any  rule  broken.  Except  for 
pictures,  an  occasional  dance  of  questionable 
character  and  a  pool  room,  the  only  play 
opportunity  offered  to  the  village  was 
through  this  newly  formed  association.  To 
meet  the  need  further  a  plan  was  made  to 

[242] 


A   SOCIAL    CENTER 

secure  at  least  one  good  entertainment  each 
month.  Dramatic  readings,  stereopticon 
lectures  and  other  enjoyable  and  helpful 
entertainments  were  offered  to  the  public. 
In  these  affairs  local  talent  was  supple- 
mented by  outside  assistance  in  the  way  of 
speakers,  lecturers  and  singers  as  far  as  they 
could  be  secured.  During  the  first  winter 
there  was  also  a  series  of  socials  held,  at 
which  the  young  people  became  acquainted 
with  each  other.  On  Easter  Sunday  a  spe- 
cial service  brought  out  a  large  attendance, 
and  a  good  concert  by  an  enlarged  chorus 
gave  the  pastor  his  first  chance  to  address 
the  community.  The  sermon  dealt  with  the 
community's  needs,  what  a  church  ought  to 
do  in  regard  to  them,  and  what  the  local 
church  was  planning.  The  cooperation  of 
the  people  was  asked.  Just  about  this  time 
the  State  Sunday-school  Association  con- 
ducted a  canvass  of  the  town  with  the  help 
of  the  church  workers  and  brought  the  pas- 
tor a  wealth  of  information  on  its  cards.  In 
June  a  children's  service  was  held  and  again 

[248] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

the  community  attended  chm'ch.  This  time 
an  object  lesson  was  used  to  reach  the  hear- 
ers. The  subject  was  the  sower  and  the 
soil.  Four  boxes  of  soil  were  used:  A  box 
of  good  soil  with  growing  vegetables  created 
great  interest,  and  the  illustration  was  ap- 
plied to  the  needs  of  growing  boys  and  girls. 
Before  long  a  manual  training  school  was 
organized  and  taught  by  the  pastor  under  the 
supervision  of  the  town  school  board.  Tools 
and  benches  furnished  by  the  school  board 
were  installed  in  the  parish  house.  Work 
done  was  credited  to  each  pupil  on  his  reg- 
ular school  grade  work  for  the  spring  term. 
The  exhibit  of  furniture  made  by  the  boys 
won  the  second  prize  at  the  State  Fair, 
and  the  boys  used  the  money  to  purchase 
standard  pictures  for  the  public  school 
rooms. 

There  was  much  discussion  regarding  a 
good  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  and 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
suggested  that  it  be  allowed  to  secure 
funds  for  fireworks.     Sufficient  money  was 

[244] 


A   SOCIAL   CENTER 

raised  and  a  program  of  games  and  sports 
in  the  afternoon,  with  fireworks  in  the 
evening,  was  carried  out.  Free  ice  cream 
and  orangeade  were  furnished.  A  series  of 
summer  evening  concerts  was  next  planned. 
It  was  found  that  a  good  orchestra  of  four 
pieces  could  be  secured  from  a  nearby  city 
at  ten  dollars  a  night  if  the  local  community 
would  furnish  transportation.  Five  auto- 
mobile owners  in  the  village  were  appointed 
a  committee  on  transportation,  and  each 
evening  of  the  five  concerts  one  of  these  men 
sent  his  car  to  the  large  town  twelve  miles 
distant,  bringing  the  members  of  the  orches- 
tra and  returning  them  after  the  festival. 
Games  were  provided  for  the  young  people, 
and  ice  cream  and  cake  served  at  a  small 
charge.  The  sale  of  these  refreshments  cov- 
ered the  necessary  expenses.  A  committee 
decorated  the  lawns  and  porches  with  Japa- 
nese lanterns  and  electric  lights,  and  pro- 
vided tables,  chairs  and  dishes.  The  food 
materials  were  all  donated  so  that  the  income 
was  practically  net.    Five  of  these  summer 

[246] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

night  festivals  were  held  in  various  sections 
of  the  town,  and  the  work  was  all  done  by 
the  people  and  all  the  people  helped  in  fur- 
nishing supplies.  The  average  attendance 
on  these  occasions  was  about  one  thousand 
people.  "The  church  set  everybody  to  work 
and  has  put  this  town  on  the  map.  It  has 
never  before  had  anything  of  its  own.  There 
was  an  adage,  'Good  things  either  never  get 
here  or  they  pass  us  by.'  " 

During  last  summer  extensive  improve- 
ments were  made  on  the  church  property; 
the  organ  was  moved  and  equipped  with  an 
electric  blower ;  the  church  was  redecorated 
by  Boston  artists;  a  new  carpet  was  laid; 
a  new  furnace  and  ventilator  system  in- 
stalled and  the  cellar  concreted.  In  July 
the  pastor  went  into  camp  with  a  group  of 
the  boys  at  a  nearby  lake.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  was  equipped 
with  additional  apparatus  such  as  basket- 
ball and  indoor  baseball  outfits,  quoits  and 
boxing  gloves  (for  this  church  is  not  afraid 
to  teach  its  young  men  the  art  of  self-de- 

[246] 


A    SOCIAL    CENTER 

fense).  In  September  a  girls'  club  was 
organized.  The  girls  took  up  calisthenics, 
basket  ball  and  other  indoor  games,  besides 
basketry  and  embroidery.  The  last  to  be 
provided  for  were  the  younger  women  who 
had  no  connection  with  the  church  or  Ladies' 
Aid  Society.  A  teacher  was  secured  to  give 
them  ten  weeks'  work  in  basketry.  This  is 
a  popular  fad  and  yet  it  is  more  than  that. 
Some  of  the  women  whose  opportunities 
are  limited  and  who  live  humdrum  lives 
have  a  new  interest  and  are  adding  mate- 
rially to  their  incomes  by  making  and  sell- 
ing baskets.  They  find  a  ready  market  in 
the  town  craftshops.  With  the  basketry 
came  the  desire  to  revive  home  industries. 
Groups  were  formed  to  learn  tatting,  net- 
ting, cross-stitch,  embroidery  and  rug- 
weaving.  Many  articles  made  by  the  girls 
and  women  were  displayed  at  a  State 
Social  Welfare  Exhibit  and  received  fa- 
vorable comment.  The  arts  and  crafts  club 
enrolled  thirty-seven  women,  two-thirds  of 
whom  were  not  interested  in  the  church 

[247] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

affairs  and  more  than  half  of  whom  were 
Catholics.  To  rally  all  the  forces  for  the 
spiritual  growth  of  the  church  a  definite 
program  was  kept  before  the  people 
throughout  the  year  beginning  on  Rally 
Sunday  in  September  and  ending  with  Chil- 
dren's Sunday  in  June.  The  Sunday-school 
has  grown  a,  hundred  per  cent. ;  the  church's 
vested  choir  was  enlarged  and  music  of  a 
higher  order  used.  Much  effort  has  been 
put  into  the  church  services.  Simple  ser- 
mons have  succeeded  in  drawing  most  of  the 
children  to  church.  Sunday  evenings  have 
been  given  to  expository  sermons  on  the 
great  characters  of  the  Bible  and  the  mid- 
week meetings  have  taken  the  form  of  a 
study  class  using  the  Bible  as  a  text  book. 
A  class  of  young  men  has  taken  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Extension  Bible  Study 
Course  on  the  origin  and  teachings  of  the 
New  Testament  under  the  pastor's  direction. 
The  climax  of  the  spiritual  activities  of  the 
church  came  at  Easter.  An  evangehst  was 
secured  and  helped  conduct  a  series  of  meet- 

[248] 


A   SOCIAL   CENTER 

ings,  and  as  a  result  a  large  number  of 
persons  united  with  the  church. 

In  one  way  the  work  of  the  church  has 
gone  beyond  the  community.  As  spring 
approached  it  was  thought  desirable  to  give 
the  farmers  some  scientific  aid  in  agriculture. 
It  was  too  expensive  to  arrange  instructions 
for  the  one  community,  and  accordingly  the 
cooperation  of  five  neighboring  communities 
was  secured.  A  series  of  lectures  by  pro- 
fessors of  the  State  University  was  ar- 
ranged. In  this  district  there  are  no  rich 
men  to  pay  the  bills.  All  expenses  have 
been  borne  by  the  people  themselves,  except 
those  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation apparatus  and  the  girls'  uniforms, 
which  have  been  given  by  friends. 

This  church  has  become  a  power  in  the 
community.  It  has  healed  the  old  sores  and 
taught  the  people  that  they  can  and  ought 
to  be  friends.  No  one  living  in  this  town 
or  in  the  surrounding  country  need  feel 
isolated.  The  church  has  touched  every 
part   of   the  life — social,   business,  educa- 

[249J 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

tional  and  religious.  The  wasteful  compe- 
tition, the  disintegration  and  disgraceful 
factions  are  now  almost  imknown.  With  a 
larger  vision  of  service  the  church  has  devel- 
oped leadership  of  its  own  and  made  of  the 
people  commimity  servants.  This  church 
has  a  right  to  be  called  Christian. 

What  has  been  done  here  can  be  done 
to  some  degree  in  almost  every  community. 
It  cannot  be  expected  that  all  the  things 
that  succeed  in  one  locality  will  succeed  in 
another,  but  in  general  the  program  that 
is  successful  in  one  place  will  be  successful 
in  another. 

The  one  thing  requisite  if  the  church  is 
to  become  a  social  center  is  that  its  eyes  shall 
be  turned  outward  toward  the  community 
rather  than  inward  toward  itself.  The  mem- 
bership of  the  church  and  especially  the  gov- 
erning Board  must  adopt  a  liberal  policy 
regarding  the  use  of  the  church  building. 
Wherever  it  is  possible  the  building  ought 
to  be  offered  to  various  helpful  organiza- 
tions, heat  and  light  furnished  without  ex- 

[250] 


A    SOCIAL    CENTER 

pense,  or  with  a  minimum  charge  which  will 
cover  the  actual  cost  of  usage.  If  the  church 
is  to  be  made  a  social  center  a  broad-minded 
policy  must  be  adopted.  In  one  community 
the  people  wondered  why  the  boys  would 
not  use  the  parish  house,  but  they  had  taken 
every  occasion  to  warn  the  boys  against  the 
evils  of  pool  and  would  not  allow  a  pool 
table  to  be  installed,  even  though  the  boys 
offered  to  pay  for  it  themselves,  for  it  was 
the  one  thing  they  desired  above  everything 
else  for  the  time  being.  In  consequence  this 
church  lost  its  opportunity,  and  the  boys 
played  pool  in  a  back  room  of  a  near-by  fruit 
store  that  was  owned  by  a  Greek.  The  suc- 
cessful church  whose  work  is  detailed  in  this 
chapter  made  its  first  impression  upon  the 
community  by  offering  to  meet  the  commu- 
nity's need  for  recreation,  and  when  it  did 
this  it  succeeded  in  establishing  itself  in  the 
center  of  affairs.  The  result  was  that  it 
gained  the  confidence  of  all  the  people  and 
was  able  to  help  them  in  every  good  under- 
taking.   Naturally  the  community  at  large 

[251] 


DANGERS   AND    DISASTERS 

came  to  look  upon  the  church  as  an  author- 
ity not  only  in  spiritual  matters  but  in  other 
things  as  well. 

Some  day  the  church  as  a  whole  will  see 
its  opportunity  and  throughout  the  country 
wherever  there  is  a  church  there  will  be  a 
center  for  inspiring  the  community  and 
helping  it  to  face  its  problems  bravely  and 
solve  them  with  wisdom. 


[262] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Addams,  Jane — Spirit  of  Youth  and  the  City  Streets.   The 

MacmUlan  Company. 
Archibald,  G.  H.— The  Power  of  Play  in  Child  Culture. 
Bates,   Esther   Willard — Pageants   and   Pageantry.     Ginn 

&  Co. 
Beard,  Dan — The  Outdoor  Handy  Book.     Charles  Scrib- 

ner's  Sons. 
Black,  Hugh — Culture  and  Restraint.    Fleming  H.  Revell 

Co. 
Boyd,  A.  K.  H. — Recreations  of  a  Country  Parson.  Long- 
mans Green  &  Co. 
Buckley,  J.  M. — Christians  and  the  Theater.    The  Century 

Co. 
Clark,  Ellery  H.  and  Graham,  John — Practical  Track  and 

Field  Athletics.     DuflSeld  &  Co. 
Crampton,  C.  Ward— The  Folk  Dance  Book.    A.  S.  Barnes 

Co. 
Edwards,  R.  H. — Christianity  and  Amusements.    The  As- 
sociation Press,  New  York. 
Gibson,  H.  W. — Camping  for  Boys.     Association  Press. 
Groos,  Karl — The  Play  of  Man.    D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
Gulick,    Luther     H.— The     Healthful    Art    of    Dancing. 

Doubleday  Page  &  Co. 
Hall,  Katheri'ne  Stanley— Children  at  Play  in  Many  Lands. 
Hemenway,  Herbert  D. — How  to  Make  School  Gardens. 

Doubleday   Page  &  Co. 
Hyde,  Wm.  DeWitt— The  Quest  of  the  Best.     Crowell  & 

Co. 
Inge,  William  Ralph— The  Church  and  the  Age,    The  Mac- 

millnn  Co. 
Johnson,  George  E. — Education  by  Play  and  Games.  Ginn 

&Co. 
Kimmius,  G.  T.— The  Guild  of  Play  Book  ot  Festival  and 

Dance.     J.  Curwen  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  24  Bemers  St.  W., 

London,  Eng. 
Lincoln,  Jennette  E.  C. — The  Festival  Book.    A.  S.  Barnes 

Co. 
Lindsey,  Ben  B. — The  Beast  and  the  Jungle.    Doubleday 

Page  &  Co. 
Lyman,  Edna— Story  Telling— What  to  Tell  and  How  to 
TeU  It.    A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 

[258] 


THE   CHURCH    AND    PEOPLE'S    PLAY 

McKay,  Constance — How  to  Produce  Plays  for  Children. 

Mero,  Everett  B. — American  Playgrounds.  Baker  & 
Taylor  Co. 

Reisner,  Christian  F. — Social  Plans  for  Young  People. 
Methodist  Book  Concern. 

Sawyer,  Frederic — A  Plea  for  Amusements.  D.  Appleton 
&  Co. 

Smith,  H.  M.— In  Playthne. 

Smith,   H.  M, — Playmates. 

Strachan,  John — What  Is  Play?  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons. 

Taylor,  Graham — Religion  in  Social  Action.  Dodd  Mead 
&  Co. 

Vincent,  M.  R. — Amusements  a  Force  in  Christian  Train- 
ing.   Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 

White,  Mary — Book  of  Games.    Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 

Wilson,  Warren  H. — The  Evolution  of  the  Country  Com- 
munity.    (Pages  189-207.)   Pilgrim  Press. 

WUson,  Warren  H. — The  Church  of  the  Open  Country. 
(Pages  79-97.)     Missionary  Education  Movement. 

PERIODICAL  LITERATURE 

The  Amusements  of  the  People,  by  Rev.  Harry  Jones. 
Good  Words,  1891. 

Amusements  for  the  People.     Spectator,  August  15,  1891. 

Amusements:  Review  of  a  Plea  for  Amusements,  by  Fred- 
eric W.  Sawyer.  Christian  Examiner  and  Religious 
Miscellany,  September,  1848. 

A  Plea  for  Amusements,  by  Frederic  W.  Sawyer.  New 
England  Magazine,  August,  1851. 

Amusements  of  the  People,  by  Walter  Besant.  Contempo- 
rary Review,  March,  1884. 

The  Boys  Are  After  You,  by  Forrest  Crissey.  Success 
Magazine,  May,  1911. 

The  Church  as  a  Social  Center.  Collier's  Weekly,  October 
8,  1910. 

The  Church's  Attitude  Toward  Recreation,  by  Rev.  H.  R. 
Haweis.     The  Outlook,  September,  1900. 

Christianity  and  Amusements,  Symposium.  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons, Dr.  Newman  Smyth,  Dr.  Bradford  Paul  Ray- 
mond, Bishop  Ezekiel  Boring  Kephart,  Dr.  Charles 
Henry  Parkhurst,  Dr.  Robert  Stuart  MacArthur,  Dr. 
Junius  Benjamin  Remensnyder,  Bishop  David  Hummell 
Greer.     Everybody's  Magazine,  May,  1904. 

The  Central  Games  Committee  of  Germany.  Henry  S. 
Curtis.    Charities  and  The  Commons,  July  7,  1906. 

Christianity  and  Popular  Amusements,  by  Washington 
Gladden.    The  Century,  January,  1885. 

[254] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

City  Neighbors  at  Play,  by  Graham  Romeyn  Taylor.  The 
Survey,  July  2,  1910. 

The  Dilemma  of  Amusements.  The  Literary  Digest,  Sep- 
tember 28,  1912. 

The  Dance  Problem,  by  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Israels.  Conference 
Kinney.     Century,  October,  1914. 

The  Dance  Problem,  by  Mrs.  Charles  Israels.  Conference 
of  Charities  and  Corrections,  1912. 

Editor's   Easy   Chair.     Harpers  Magazine,   August,   1907. 

The  Educational  Value  of  Play,  by  Dr.  John  E.  Bradley. 
Review  of  Reviews,  January,  1902. 

Fashionable  Amusements.  A  Tract  Discussed  in  Christian 
Examiner,  1830.  Tract  No.  73. — American  Tract 
Society. 

Folk  Dances  for  Health,  by  William  Inglis.  Harpers 
Weekly,  July  8,  1911. 

Fighting  the  Gang  With  Athletics,  by  Jacob  A.  Riis. 
Colliers,  February  11,  1911. 

The  Gospel  of  Amusement.     Spectator,  October  26,  1889. 

The  Gospel  of  Recreation,  by  Herbert  Spencer.  Popular 
-   Science  Monthly,  January,  1883. 

Give  Them  a  Place  to  Play,  by  Denis  A.  McCarthy.  Sur- 
vey, July  9,  1910. 

Giving  City  Children  a  Chance,  by  Ralph  D.  Paine.  Col- 
liers, November  12,  1910. 

The  Importance  of  Teaching,  Encouraging  and  Enabling 
the  People  to  Play  Rationally  and  Healthfully,  by 
Francis  Fuller  (paper  read  before  the  Victoria  Dis- 
cussion Society,  March  6,  1870.  Published  in  Victoria 
Magazine,  1870.) 

Municipal  Theatre  and  Concert  HaU.  The  American  City, 
May,  1910. 

The  Miracle  of  the  Movie,  by  W.  P.  Lawson.  Harpers 
Weekly,  January  2,  WIS. 

The  Methodist  Amusement  Ban.  Litery  Digest,  January 
15,  1912. 

The  Man  Who  Danced  to  Health,  by  Dr.  Stephen  Innes. 
Technical   World   Magazine,   July,   1913. 

The  New  Fourth  of  July,  by  Percy  Mackaye.  The  Century, 
July,  1910. 

The  Need  of  Recreation,  by  Mrs.  Joseph  I.  Bowen  (Presi- 
dent Juvenile  Protective  Association  of  Chicago)  Con- 
ference Charities  and  Corrections,  1910. 

On  the  Need  of  Play.  Editorial.  North  American  Review, 
January,  1909.     By  Henry  S.  Curtis. 

Our  Amusements.     Backwoods  Magazine,  December,  1866. 

Our  Recreation  Facilities  and  the  Immigrant,  by  Victor 

[265] 


THE  CHURCH   AND   PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

Von  Borosini,   Hull   House,   Chicago.     Annals  of  the 

American   Academy   of   Political   and   Social   Science, 

March,    1910. 
Organized   Play   in   the   Country,   by   Myron   T.    Scudder. 

Charities  and  The  Commons,  August  3,  1907. 
The    Playground   Movement   in   America.     The   American 

City,  March,  1912. 
The  Public  Library  a  Social  Force  in  Pittsburg.    Survey, 

March  6,  1910. 
The  Physiology  of  Recreation,  by  Charles  Roberts.     The 

Contemporary  Review,  July,  1895. 
The  Playground  in  Rural  Communities,  by  H.  L.  Bailey. 

The  Playground,  September,  1911. 
Play  as  a  Factor  in  Social  Educational  Reforms,  by  Prof. 

A.  E.  Kirkpatrick.     Review  of  Reviews,  August,  1899. 
Play  as  an  Education,  by  Woods  Hutchinson,  M.D.     The 

Contemporary  Review,  September,  1903. 
Play  as  a  Reformative  Agency,  by  T.  F.  Chapin.     Con- 
ference  of  Charities   and  Corrections,  Detroit,   1902. 
Play  and  Congestion,  by  Joseph  E.  Lee.    Charities  and  The 

Commons,   April   4,    1908. 
Play  and  Democracy,  by  Luther  E.  Gulick.    Charities  and 

The  Commons,  August  8,  1907. 
Play   and  Dancing  for  Adolescents,  by  G.  Stanley  Hall. 

Independent,  February  14,  1907. 
Public  Recreation  and  Social  Morality,  by  Jane  Addams. 

Charities  and  The  Commons,  April  8,  1907. 
Playgrounds  in  the  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis,  by  Henry 

Baird     Favill,    M.D.     Charities    and    The    Commons, 

August  3,  1907. 
The  Play  Impulse  and  Attitude  in  Religion,  by  Prof.  Carl 

E.    Seashore.      The    American    Journal    of    Theology, 

October,  1910. 
Play  and  Puritans.     British  Review,  May,  1866. 
Playgrounds  for  Poor  Children,  by  Mrs.  DeMorgan.    Good 

Words,   November   1,   1867. 
Popular    Amusements.      The    Westminster    and    Forjeign 

Quarterly  Review,  July,  1856. 
Play  and  Social  Progress,  by  Howard  S.  Braucher.   Annals 

of   the   American   Academy    of   Political    and    Social 

Science,  March,  1910. 
Play,  by  Joseph  Lee.    Survey,  July  2,  1910. 
Play  as  a  Medicine,  by  Joseph  Lee.     Conference  of  Char- 
ities and  Corrections,  1911. 
The  Psychology  of  Relaxation,  by  G.  T.  W.  Patrick.    Pop- 
ular Science  Monthly,  June,  1914. 

[  256  ] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  Problem  that  the  Tango  has  Inflicted  on  the  Church. 

Current  Opinion,  March,  1914. 
The  Relation  of  Play  to  Character,  by  President  John  E. 

Bradley.     Education,  March,  1899. 
Relation  of  Play  to  Juvenile  Delinquency,  by  Caroline  McP. 

Bergen.     Charities  and  The  Commons,  August  8,  1907. 
Some   Reflections  on  the  Failure  of  the  City  to  Provide 

Recreation  for  Young  Girls,  by  Jane  Addams.     Char- 
ities and  The  Commons,  December  5,  1908. 
Recreations  for  the  People.     The  Penny  Magazine  of  the 

Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge,  Jan- 
uary 12,  1839. 
Recreation,  by  George  J.  Romanes.     Nineteenth  Century, 

September,  1879. 
The  Rochester  Play  Congress  Report.    Survey,  July  2,  1910. 
Recreation  as   a  Public  Function  in  Urban  Commimities, 

by  Jane  Addams.    The  American  Journal  of  Sociology, 

March,  1912. 
Report  of  Subcommittee  on  Amusements  and  Employment, 

by  D.  H.   Holbrook,  East  High  School,  Minneapolis. 

School  Review,  November,  1912. 
Recreation — A  World  Need,  by  C.  M.  Goethe.     Survey, 

October  4,  1913. 
A  Signal  Example  of  Church  Social  Service   (Rochester, 

N.  Y.).     Survey,  December  17,  1910. 
The  Science  of  Recreation,  by  Walter  Besant.    Time,  Jan- 

uarv,  1886. 
The  Soul  of  Play,  by  Richard  C.  Cabot.    Atlantic  Monthly, 

November,  1910. 
The  Significance  of  the  Present  Dance  Movement,  by  Lucia 

Gale    Barber.     New    England    Magazine,    November, 

1909. 
The  Social  Significance  of  Play,  by  Otto  T.  Mallery.  Annals 

of   the    American    Academy   of    Political    and    Social 

Science,  March,  1910. 
The   Social   Center,  by  Mabel   Potter  Daggett.     World's 

Work,  November,  1912. 
The  Sociology  of  Recreation,  by  J.  L.  Gillin.     American 

Journal  of  Sociology,   May,   1914. 
The  Significance  of  Playgrounds,  by  Wm.  Hale  Beckford. 

Lippincott's,   June,   1918. 
Southern  Boys'  Corn  Clubs.  The  Outlook,  February  8,  1910. 
Summer  Activities.     The  Association  Monthly,  June,  1911. 
Tango  to  Fight  Disease.     Literary  Digest.     May  9,  1914. 
Using  the  School  House  Out  of  School  Hours,  by  Anne 

Forsythe.     The  World  Today,  January,  1911. 
The  Wage  Earner  and  His  Recreation,  by  Edward  Priestly. 

The  Catholic  World,  July,  1888. 
[257] 


THE  CHURCH   AND    PEOPLE'S   PLAY 

REPORTS    AND    OTHER   PUBLICATIONS. 

Camp  Fire  Girls  of  America.     Handbook  may  be  secured 

from  Secretary,  118  E.  28th  St.,  New  York. 
Boy  Scouts'  Official  Manual.     Doubleday  Page  &  Co.   25c. 
Publications  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  130  E.  22nd 
St.,  New  York: 

Recreation  Bibliography. 

Information  About  Field  Methods,  etc. 

How  to  Start  Social  Centers,  by  Clarence  A.  Perry. 

The  Celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  by  Means  of 
Pageantry.     William  C.  Langdon. 

The  Fourth  of  July  Program. 

Independence  Day  Legislation  and  Celebration  Sugges- 
tions.    Lee  F.  Hanmer. 

Sources  of  Information  on  Recreation. 

Recreation  Legislation. 

Sources  of  Speakers  and  Topics  for  Public  Lectures  in 
School  Buildings. 

May  Day  Celebrations,  by  Elizabeth  Bruchenal. 

Athletics  in  the  Public  Schools,  by  Lee  F.  Hanmer. 

The  Exploitation  of  Pleasure.  A  Study  of  Commercial 
Recreation  in  New  York  City,  by  Michael  M.  Davis,  Jr. 

Exercise  and  Rest,  by  Luther  H.  Gulick. 

Inter-High  School  Athletics,  by  Earl  Cline. 

The  Unused  Recreation  Resources  of  the  Average  Com- 
munity, by  Clarence  A.  Perry. 
First  Annual  Report  of  the  Chief  Children's  Bureau  to  the 
Secretary  of  Labor.  United  States  Government  Docu- 
ment, Washington,  D.  C,  1914. 
Publications  of  the  Playground  Association  of  America. 
1  Madison  Avenue,  New  York: 

The  Playground.     Vol.  VI— No.  9. 

The  Playground.     Vol.  VII— No.  10. 

Index  to  Vol.  VI— The  Playground. 

Index  to  Vol.  VII— The  Playground. 

A  Year's  Campaign  for  a  Life  Rather  Than  a  Living 
for  Everyone  in  America.  Report  of  Secretary 
Braucher  for  year  1912-13. 

The  Social  Influence  of  the  Moving  Picture,  by  Rev.  H. 
A.  Jmnp. 

Leisure,  Recreation  and  Life,  by  Raymond  Robins. 

A   City  and   Country   Life   Movement. 
The  Question  of  Motion  Picture  Censorship.     Report  pre- 
pared by  the  National  Board  of  Censorship  of  Motion 
Pictures,  70  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 
The  Policy  and  Standards  of  the  National  Board  of  Cen- 
sorship of  Motion  Pictures,  70  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 

[258] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Suggestions  for  Regulation  of  Motion  Pictures.  Juvenile 
Protective   Association  of   Chicago. 

The  Colored  People  of  Chicago.  Report  of  an  Investiga- 
tion Made  for  The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  of 
Chicago. 

On  the  Trail  of  the  Juvenile  Adult  Offender.  An  Inten- 
.sive  Study  of  100  County  Jail  Cases  for  the  Juvenile 
Protective  Association  of  Chicago,  1912. 

The  Care  of  Illegitimate  Children  in  Chicago.  Report 
Made  by  Howard  Moore  for  Juvenile  Protective  Asso- 
ciation  of    Chicago. 

A  Study  in  Adult  Delinquency.  Investigation  by  Juvenile 
Protective  Association  of  Chicago. 

The  Juvenile  Court  of  Denver.  A  Report  issued  by  au- 
thority of  the  Judge  of  the  Court. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Seattle  Juvenile  Court,  1912. 

Vice  Reports — Chicago,  Minneapolis,  Kansas  City,  New 
York   and  Boston. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen,  Chicago,  1914. 

Survey  of  the  Conditions  Demoralizing  to  Women  and 
Girls  in  the  Saloons  of  Chicago  by  the  Chicago  South 
Side  Club,  731  Plymouth  Ct.,  Chicago. 

Report  of  Mashashimuet  Park  and  Social  Center,  Sag 
Harbor,  N.  Y. 

The  Pageant  of  Darien.     Report  Committee  Darien,  Conn. 

Second  Annual  Report  Recreation  Department  of  Board 
of  Welfare,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Third  Annual  Report  Recreation  Department  of  Board 
of  Welfare,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Immigation  on  the  Problem 
of  Immigation  in  Massachusetts — Massachusetts  State 
Document. 


[259] 


7  / 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


3  1205  00118  8588 


^ 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A    000  986  119    6 


